Registered M. 91 - Digital Library KUL

Registered M . 91

T H E T H E O S O P H I C A L S O C IE T YPresident: Annie Besant. Vice-President: A. P. Warrington. Recording Secretary: Ernest Wood. Treasurer: A. Sohvarz

Official Organ of the President: The Theosophist

1. U. S. of Amerioa2. England

3. India

4. Australia6. Sweden6. New Zealand

7. Netherlands8. France0. Italy

10. Germany

11. Cuba

12. Hungary13. Finland14. Russia*16. Czechoslovakia16. South Africa

17. Scotland

18. Switzerland19. Belgium20. Neth. East Indies

N A TIO N A L SOCIETIES G E N ER A L SE C R E T A R IE S

Mr. Sidney A.. Cook—Wheaton, Illinois ... ... ,,,

Mrs. M. Jackson— 45-46, Lancaster Gate, London, W. 2

Mr. D. K. Telang—Theosophioal Society, Benares City

Rev. H. Morton—Theosophioal Society, Ilnka Road, Mosman, N.S.W. Herr G. Halfdan Liander—Ostermalmsgatan 75, Stockholm ...Rev. William Crawford—371 Queen Street, Auckland ...

Mr. J. Kruisheer—156 Tolstraat, Amsterdam ,,,

Monsieur Charles Blech—4 Square Rapp, Paris VII ...

Donna Luisa Gamberini—109 via Masaccio, Florence 22 ...

Herr Dr. Johannes M. Verweyen—Behringstr. 2, Bonn Dr. J. R. Villaverde—Apartado 366, Havana ... ...

Madame E. de Rathonyi— VI. Delibab u. 20, Budapest I ...Herr A. Rankka—Kansakoulukatu 8, Helsinki ... M,Dr. Anna Kamensky—2 Rue Cherbuliez, Geneva

Herr Josef Skuta—Kuncicky 290, Mor., Ostrava ... I ...Mr. 0 . F. Evans—P.O. Box 163, Maritzburg Mr. John P. Allan—28 Great King Street, Edinburgh ...

Madame Louisa Rollier—15 Rue St. Jean, Geneva ... ...Monsieur Gaston Polak—61 Rue du Commerce, Brussels ...Mynheer A. J. H. van Leeuwen—Leadbeater-Park No. 1,

Oud-Merdika, Bandoeng, Java* The Lodges.are outside Russia.

M AGAZINES

The Theosophical Messenger.

N ews ano N otes.

Theosophy in I ndia .

The A ustralian Theosophist.

Teosofisk Tidskrift.

Theosophy in N ew Zealand.

D e Theosofische Beweginq.

B ulletin TH^osopHiquE.I l Loto.

Theosophische Studien .

Revista Teosofioa Cubana.

T eozofia.

Teosofi.V estnik .

Theosophy in S outh A frica.

N ews and N otes.

Bulletin Th£osophique S uisse B ulletin Th ^osophi^cs B eloe

Theosofie in N ed . I ndie.

Vol. LIII No. 7

THET H E O S O P H IS T

A MAGAZINE OF BROTHERHOOD, ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY, ART, LITERATURE AND OCCULTISM

Founded by H. P. BLAVATSKY and H. S. OLCOTTwith which is incorporated LUCIFER, founded by H. P. BLAVATSKY

Edited by ANNIE BESANT, P .T .S.

CONTENTS, APRIL, 1932PAGE

On the Watch-Tower . . . . . . 1From a Master to some of His Younger Disciples . . . 9Esoteric Teachings of H. P. Blavatsky. (Continued) 13Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to Annie Besant. (Continued) . . 19A Vision of “ The Teacher of Gods and Men ”. C. J inarajadasa . 24The Teachings of K rishnamurti: III. Individual Uniqueness. J . V . JOSHI . 29The Original Hindu Horoscope of J . Krishnamurti . . . 4 2The Livfes of Arcor. (Continued) . . . . 4 6Banner of Peace (Poem). J ames H . COUSINS . . 5 2The Objects of the Theosophical Society (Symposium) . 53Einstein and Theosophy. C. H aEGLER . . . . 63The Heat of Life. E. BENNETT . . . . . 6 9Study Notes for a Theosophical University. G. E. SUTCLIFFE . . 73The Sufi’s Quest for God. L ilaran Premchand . . . 7 8The Magic of Great Cathedrals. H arold Morton . . . 8 3Punch (Story). F. H. ALDHOUSE . . . . 8 7Goethe’s Faust. C. J inarajadasa . . . . 9 2Point Loma’s Offer to Adyar and the Vice-President’s Reply . . 96Love that Lives, Review-Article. LEO F rench . . . 101The Theosophical Field . . . . . 1 0 4Appeal for Books . . . . . . 1 0 4Reviews . . . . . . . 106Magazines and Books Received . . . . 1 1 2Supplement: Financial Statement, etc. • . . . i

TH EO SO PH IC AL PUBLISH ING HOUSE A D Y A R , M A D R A S , IN D IA

P rice : See S upp lem ent, page Ifi

THEOSOPHY AND OCCULTISMH. P. Blavatsky Centenary Issue of “ The Theosophist ”. A special

Centenary Number containing chiefly articles from the pen of H. P. B. has been issued. Some have never been published before, and others so very many years ago that most members know nothing of them. There are 31 illustrations.

Price in India Re. 1. Foreign 2s. or 50 cents. Cloth and Gold,Price in India Re. 1-8. Foreign 2s. 6d. or 75 cents.

The Masters and the Path. By C. W. Leadbeater. With a foreword by Mrs. Annie Besant, D.L. Containing information regarding the Masters, Their existence and work, Their physical bodies and Their residence, the way to Them, Probation, Acceptance, the Great Initiations, the Ego and the Trinity. Cloth Rs. 7.

Esoteric Writings of T. Subba Rao (with sketch of the author’s life by H. S. Olcott, President-Founder of the Theosophical Society.) The author’s profound articles, collected in one volume, are most striking for the originality of thought, and for the vision which they give of occult matters.

(Revised and Enlarged Edition). Boards Rs. 6.Cloth Rs. 7.

Talks on the Path of Occultism. By Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater.

Vol. I. Talks on “ At the Feet of the M aster”. This contains the teachings given to Mr. J. Krishnamurti by his Master in preparing him for Initiation.

Vol. II. Talks on “ The Voice of the Silence”. Fragments chosen from “ The Book of the Golden Precepts” by Madame H. P. Blavatsky.

Vol. III. Talks on “ Light on the Path ”. One of the most precious little volumes in Theosophical literature. It was dictated to Mabel Collins by one of the Masters.

Each Vol. Boards Rs. 4. Cloth Rs. 5.

Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Madras, India

3#

ON THE WATCH-TOWER

AS inquiries are constantly being made after the health of Dr. Besant, the following message was lately com-

municated to Reuter’s, to be transmitted to the press: Dr. Besant s strength is not

increasing, but no danger is anticipated. She has not gone out driving for the last five weeks.” There are constant requests from visitors who come from all over India to Madras, usually on pilgrimage to Madura and Rameshwaram, to see Dr. Besant, “ only a Darshan, not to talk to her,” as is the phrase, that is, merely even to see her, and prostrate before her without disturbing her. And this request, especially from the women, is hard to refuse, as every ounce of strength in Dr. Besant must be conserved. She spends her waking hours on her verandahfacing the river and sea, reading quietly.

** *Mr. A. P. Warrington, the Vice-President of the Society,

m „ „ „ and Mrs. Warrington are staying on at AdyarThe Vice-President. ~ . , . , ,till the next Convention, which will take place at Benares in December. On arrival at Headquarters they resided at Blavatsky Gardens, but a suite of rooms at the Headquarters building occupied for several years by Mr. D. K. Telang having become vacant, they have moved thither, so asto be nearer the President and the administrative offices.

»* *Elsewhere will be found the correspondence between

Point Loma and Adyar which states a gene- offer'to^ylr rous °^ er to A^yar, should Adyar be in dire

need, and Mr. Warrington’s reply on behalf

2 THE THEOSOPHIST APRIL

of the President. Dr. J. H. Fussell, the Secretary-General of the Point Loma Society, refers to the coincidence that both the late Mrs. Katharine Tingley and Dr. Besant have prophesied that the Point Loma and Adyar Societies would work side by side at the same spot, i.e., Point Loma. Dr. Besant’s forecast was hardly to that effect. Many references have been made to this “ prophecy ” of Dr. Besant, and it is therefore as well to have it correctly. What she actually said—or rather wrote —can be found in The THEOSOPHIST for November, 1909. In her Watch-Tower Notes for that month she describes her tour in the United States in that year. She had mentioned in the Notes for the previous month how on her arrival in New York she found that Mrs. Tingley had been circularising the newspapers of New York with material hostile to the Theosophical Society and to herself (Dr. Besant): “ Poor Mrs. Tingley has wasted much money that might have been more usefully employed in an endeavor to stir up the American press against me.” As this campaign of vilification had continued right throughout her tour, Dr. Besant reverts to the subject in the November issue. She first describes Mrs. Tingley and her activities in the following lines :

Considering Mrs. Tingley’s tireless malignity against the Theosophical Society, her endeavors to prevent Colonel Olcott and Mr. Leadbeater from lecturing in San Diego and her ceaseless vituperation of myself through her lieutenant, I speculate sometimes on her use in the movement. Such abnormal hatred so long continued implies considerable force of character, and force of character always is interesting. She is a fine woman of business with a remarkable capacity for gaining and holding money—a quality rare in the Theosophical ranks—and that seems to be the quality for which she is being used. She owns a splendid property at Point Loma, and has broken into pieces the great organisation which Mr. Judge built up by years of patient toil, and has driven away the strong band which supported him, so that there is nothing to succeed her.And then follows the “ prophecy ” which many in U. S. A. have quoted, and now referred to by Dr. Fussell.

I will venture a prophecy: she is being used to make a centre which will pass into the hands of the Society she hates, and will form an important South Californian focus for its world- work. The Rome which slew Christians became a centre of

1932 ON THE WATCH-TOWER 3

Christian power a few centuries later. It is indeed a far cry from Imperial Rome to Point Loma, but the world issues are greater, for one had to do with a sub-race and the other has to do with a Root-Race.

We have thus two diametrically opposed prophecies, that of Dr. Besant and that of Mrs. Tingley. Perhaps whoever writes these Watch-Tower Notes in The THEOSOPHIST a quarter of a century hence will have more facts than the present generation has to decide which of the two prophecieshas then already become true, or is on the way towards it.

•* *Point Loma’s generous offer of help is dictated by the

fear that the National Movement in India^iVind^0" maY be taking a trend leading to a complete

revolution, of the type of the great FrenchRevolution. Many newspapers in the United States have given their readers that impression, but those readers forget that many American journalists are first “ colourful,” and then truthful, if truth and colour can be adequately combined. No one who lives in India can see any signs of a “ revolution ” . As Dr. Besant has again and again pointed out to those toying with the idea of violence as a way to India’s freedom, a people without arms cannot create a revolution, when those in authority command the army and the ammunition. To talk of a “ revolution ” in India, i.e., the overthrow by one government of another government by violence, shows a complete misreading of facts and possibilities. It is true that the number of men and women who have been sent to prison for protesting against the Government is not far short of sixteen to twenty- thousand. But it is equally true that the situation in 1932 is different from that of 1917 when Dr. Besant was interned. Then both the Government of India and Britain were utterly hostile to the idea that Indians should be free in India to administer their affairs, as the Australians and Canadians are free in Australia and Canada to administer theirs. But that resistance on England’s part


has at last been broken down, and it is now the stated policy of England and that of the Indian Government as voiced by the Viceroy, Lord Willingdon, that India is to become a Dominion. But how, and in what manner, is the question. For India is a land of three hundred and sixty millions, a continent with varying types of administration like that of the Indian Princes, an autocracy, that of the British administration, bureaucracy combined with autocracy, and both in clashwith what is claimed, a democracy.

»* *It is here perhaps useful to reiterate that in all the

political actions of Dr. Besant, she has had India and Britain. . <■. r 1 * 1 1 1one clear-cut policy from which she has never swerved one single instant. This is, that the link between Britain and India must be preserved, as its continuation is necessary for both. On March 7, 1921, after Gandhiji had launched his campaign of “ Non-Co-operation ” against the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms initiated that year, Dr. Besant wrote to the members of her Esoteric School:

In the E. S. you learn forms of meditation which much increase your power of thought, and it is impossible that any who follow Mr. Gandhi’s Non-Co-operation movement—which frankly seeks to destroy the present Government, and to render useless the Reforms intended by the Manu to lead India into a position of equality with Great Britain and the Dominions—should remain in the E. S. and use the forces flowing through it in opposition to the work of the Hierarchy, turning against the Masters who founded it the power given to its members for the service of the world . . .

India and Britain together can preserve the Peace of the World, and lead it into a higher civilisation. Separated, Britain will become a small Power, and India will be overrun by the Afghans, the Asian Central tribes, and finally by the Russian Communists, aided in India itself by the party of violence among the Musalmans . . .

I therefore ask all who are Non-Co-operators to return all papers and documents and pictures they may possess, lent to them under their pledge, to their respective Corresponding Secretaries. Since that time, as indeed before, Dr. Besant’s policy has been India first, that is, supporting the foreign British Government’s action where she thought it wise, and opposing where she thought it detrimental, but equally, while working for all


Nationalist causes helpful in her judgment, unflinchingly opposing all those which she thought injurious. All these facts are well-known in India; and yet but two months ago a correspondent in England wrote to Mr. Jinarajadasa saying that he (the correspondent) had heard in conversation with friendsthat “ Mrs. Besant is supporting Mr. Gandhi ” ,

** aMost informed people know that one of the difficulties

“ The God of Ail in India is the clash of religious opinion Religions”. between Hindus and Muhammadans. From

religious differences, feeling develops into animosities of a communal nature. It has, however, been pointed out by many that, till lately, indeed only from the beginning of the Non- Co-operation movement of 1921, there was hardly any strife between the two communities in the Indian States ruled by the Indian Princes. Wherever the Indian ruler was the supreme authority, whether he was Hindu or Muhammadan, the two peoples have lived in amity in the past, whereas it has been well-known that communal differences have always marked the two peoples living under the British administration. An instance of the way that the Indian Princes try to hold the balance even in these matters is shown by the Maharajah of Bikaner, who in his address to his people on New Year’s Day referred to his attitude to the religions ofthe various communities in his State.

Whilst I am proud to be a Hindu, I have scrupulously respected all religions and admired everything that is best in all of them. In addition to many Hindu Temples which have been renovated, added to, redecorated or otherwise improved, from my own Privy Purse funds, and my similar contributions towards the building of a Christian Church and Sikh Gurdwaras in the State, Muhammadan Shrines have likewise been renovated and improved by me, as at Gajner, at which I take a delight in openly going and kneeling before the God of all Religions.

Thanks to the policy of my illustrious Ancestors of meting out impartial and just treatment to Hindus and Muslims alike, the communal question does not exist in Bikaner; and for close upon 500 years since this State was founded Muslims and Hindus have lived in peace, amity and concord during which period—in spite of attempts made from outside in the past 20 years or so. The lamentable communal outbreaks, which almost every day now disfigure the history


of British India, have happily been extremely few and far between, and that too only as a result of the folly of a few individuals. In recent times, when, as a result of the evil winds blowing across our frontier from British India, some misguided men, and especially young Hindus and Muslims, tried to stir up communal trouble in the State, I and my Government, according to the facts of the case, have unhesitatingly, and without fear or favor, told both the Hindus and the Muhammadans concerned that they were in the wrong and that they would not receive any sympathy or support from us.

** *

Easter Conferences.

It is usual in India at Easter time for Theosophists to gather together in Conferences. The Easter holidays and the closing of offices enable

Theosophists who are in Government and other services of various kinds to get the necessary time to attend the meetings. There will be this year a large gathering of the South Indian Theosophical Federation at the Headquarters in Adyar. Mr. Jinarajadasa is the “ President ” of the Conference. The general trend of the meetings will be to inspire the members to apply Theosophical principles to various forms of reorganization urgently necessary in the country. The programme arranged for the Conferences is as follows :

March 25th, Friday, 4—5 p.m .: “ The Higher Nationalism.’ C. JinarajadSsa; 5—6 p.m .: “ Theosophy and its Need for the Masses." T. V. Kalyanasundaram Mudaliar (Tamil); 7.30—8.30 p.m.: “ Abu Hassan, the Song-maker.” Entertainment by the pupils of the Mylapore National Girls’ School.

March 26th, Saturday, 6.30 a.m.: Bharata Samaj Puja (Temple); 7.45 a.m.: Prayers of the Religions; 8—10 a.m.: E. S. Conference. C. Jinarajadasa in the chair; 1—3 p.m .: Visits by delegates to select Social Welfare centres in the City of Madras; 4—6 p.m.: “ Medical Reform from the point of view of a Theosophist.” Dr. C. Rama Kamath ; “ Life at Home." A Seshagiri Row; 7.30—8.30 p.m. • “ The Child as God in Religion." C. Jinarajadasa (Lantern Lecture).

March 27th, Sunday, 6.30 a.m .: Bharata Samaj Puja (Temple); 7.45 a.m.: Prayers of the Religions; 8—9 a.m.: E. S. Meeting; 9.15—10.45 a.m .: “ The Objects of the Theosophical Society.” D. Srinivasa Iyengar and G. Srinivasamurti; 1—2 p.m .: A meeting for Co-Masons of all Degrees; 2—3 p.m.: Informal meeting of delegates to arrange work for the year; 4—5 p.m .: Lecture by V. Bhogappaya Sastrulu (Telugu); 5—6 p.m.: “ Rural Reconstruction." A. Ranga- swami Aiyar, R. Suryanarayana Rao and others; 7.30—8.30 p.m.: “ The Latest Discoveries in Astronomy” (Lantern). Professor V. Appa Rao of Presidency College.


March 28th, Monday, 6.30 a.m .: Bharata Samflj Ptkja (Temple); 7.45 a.m .: Prayers of the Religions; 8—9 a.m.: Question and Answer Meeting. A. P. Warrington; 9—10 a.m.: “ Rural Reconstruction.” Dr. Jesudasan of Christu Kula Ashramam; 10—10.45 a.m .: Closing Address. C. Jinarajadasa.

2.30—7 p.m .: Social Conference in Gokhale Hall, Madras, arranged by the social workers of the City and outside; 7.30 p.m.: Masonic Meeting, R. C. Degree.

At the same time that this Conference is being held, there are two other Conferences. The first is of the Gujarat and Kathiawar T. S. Federation, which will hold its session at Baroda on March 20—22 under the Presidentship of Bro. Mavji Govindji. The Recording Secretary of the Society, Professor Ernest Wood, has left with Mrs. Hilda Wood for Sind topreside at the Federation meeting at Easter in Hyderabad.

** *In Barcelona, Spain, Theosophists have inaugurated a

Club where Theosophists who pass throughSpam. wijj a corc|iai welcome. This

Centre, quite distinct from the meetings of the Theosophical Lodges, is intended to create a new line of activity distinct from the studies of the Lodges. One of the difficulties which confront Theosophists is that it is very rarely they can meet each other apart from Lodge meetings. Most Theosophists have to earn their living, and for many even the arrangement of the time to meet at Lodge meetings is not an easy matter. On the other hand, those who work for Theosophy are in many ways bound by a very close tie, and the more they can see each other the better their joint work is. Several Lodges attempt to have a “ Social ” once a month or once a quarter. The existence of a Theosophical Club enables members to introduce non-members who would not care to be closely identified, in the beginning at least, with Theosophical Lodges.

** *During the last three years there has been a distinct

devitalization of the Society in many parts of the world. This has been attributed by many

and with some truth to the remarks of Krishnaji concerning


the futility of organizations in general to discover truth and to help the individual to Liberation. There are, however, other causes also, one of the greatest being the economical depression. This era of Theosophical depression, which coincided with the economic depression of the world, is passing, and several countries are reporting signs of a new era of activity. Thus, France reports:

This year many more people come to our Headquarters than they did last year. There are a lot of Conferences and Lecture Courses given each week, and the Hall is always quite full. People are seeking comfort, explanations and spiritual help in this world crisis. Mile. Serge Brisy is making a tour of six weeks in Tunisie and Algerie and with very great success. She is a very fine lecturer, very clever and speaks on various subjects.

»« *The following telegrams have been received :

(Olcott Commemoration and Adyar Day.) Oslo, Norway.Gr tin a Hail Adyar and its valiants—Norwegian

Section, T.S. Dublin, Ireland. Loving greetings from Convention, Irish National Section.

W. Q. JUDGE LETTERS

Regarding the letters of W. Q. Judge published in The THEOSOPHIST during 1931, a criticism has just reached me that it was discourteous to retain the references to Mrs. Judge who was then living. I had long been under the false impression that the lady had been dead several years ; had I known that she was living, I would have eliminated the references to her in the letters. Mrs. Judge passed away in September, 1931.

The personal details in the letters of Mr. Judge were retained to show under what difficulties and handicaps he laboured, and how in spite of them his devotion to Theosophy steadily grew. Not a few are the Theosophists whose material difficulties and emotional crises are not dissimilar to those that Mr. Judge went through and surmounted.

C. JlNARAJADASA

FROM A MASTER TO SOME OF HIS YOUNGER DISCIPLES

This discourse was addressed to a group of young pupils of a Master in . . . at different stages of progress in the Inner Life. Several of them are specially attached to the Master Jesus and the Lord Maitreya, and had made great progress in former lives in Christianity. Some are also Freemasons. Hence the special references in 3 (b) to the Church and Masonry. The references do not imply that aspirants who belong to other faiths, or are non-Masons, should become either Christians or Freemasons; speaking to Hindus or others, He would have drawn His illustrations from other gatherings. The essence of the idea is that people collectively, when engaged in a spiritual work, are more potent than they are separate. Nor is there any meaning in mentioning Theosophical work last, except that individual work of teaching or lecturing is not so much a centre for radiating high thought as are ( a) and (b) ; (b) is the most powerful method—collective action animated by intense devotion.

I make these comments only to avoid misconception, such as has occasionally arisen by students reading into statements of a Master meanings which were not intended.

Annie Besant

My dear Young Br o th er s :Your life is naturally becoming more and more a full and

busy life ; you cannot find time for all the varied activities that claim your attention. Therefore it is important that you should exercise discrimination—that you should choose wisely among these manifold activities, and that you should not attempt too much. Time is a precious gift—a “ talent ” 1 entrusted to us, and we must try to use it to the best advantage. During these earlier years of your life, your paramount duty is to

1 Referring to Christ’s Parable of the Talents, Matthew, XXV, 14—30.


build up a strong physical body, so that you may not be hampered in your later work by its weakness ; and no ideas of rapid progress, either occult or intellectual, must be allowed to interfere with the fulfilment of that duty.

Never forget that your life in the service of the Brotherhood is wholly consecrated to the uplifting of humanity. Let that consecration be “ real, deep and true,” as you sing in one of the hymns inspired half-a-century ago by our wonderful Poet-Brother ; 1 let the devotion and the love which you feel so strongly to your Elder Brothers show forth ever in unremitting effort to help those younger in evolution and in realization. To the earnest disciple, such service is the one reason for his existence, and all his education, all his training, whether upon lower or higher planes, is undertaken for no other purpose than to prepare him to do that work well. Realize that education is not an end in itself, but a means to an end, and that it must be used intelligently from that point of view. Avoid the mistake made by many enthusiastic and well-intentioned students who set the means above the end, and let the claims of their training hold them back from a definite opportunity of present service. Every new faculty or power that you can develop, all new knowledge that you can acquire, will help you to do the work better ; but some lines of study are more useful for your object than others, so here again discrimination is required. The best training of all is to begin to do the work even now, in such measure as you can ; and there are four ways in which this is possible for you.

1. As by practice you fit yourselves for it, I shall, when occasion offers, assign to each of you some special service which you may undertake and carry through to the best of your ability on my behalf.

1 The Master R. The hymn referred to is ** From Glory unto Glory/* by Frances R. Havergal.

1932 FROM A MASTER TO SOME OF HIS DISCIPLES 11

2. You should be ever on the watch for opportunities of helping each individual with whom you come into contact. I sometimes put persons in your way especially for that purpose, just as I might send a man to a doctor to be cured of a physical ailm ent; but you may and should find suitable cases for yourselves. You must be prepared to meet and deal with all sorts of different temperaments; beware therefore of forming rash judgments, of adopting baseless prejudices, for they always limit your usefulness.

3. You may in various ways do constant service to your district or immediate neighbourhood:

(a) By making yourselves during meditation centres of active radiation of high thought, and thus providing a ready channel for the influence of the Brotherhood.

(5) By joining in collective action with the same object, as in a Church service or a Masonic meeting—both of them especially fine opportunities of altruistic work which none should miss unless compelled by serious illness.

By taking charge of a class for Theosophical instruction, or by delivering lectures or addresses, in order to do something to lift the veil of ignorance which causes so much unnecessary suffering to mankind, and to spread ever more and more widely the gospel of the all-pervading Love.

4. You may do service to humanity as a whole by realizing your unity with it, and striving to raise it by raising yourselves. You do this in excelsis when, by taking a step in evolution (such as Acceptance or Initiation), you slightly but quite definitely lift mankind a hairbreadth nearer to its goal; and you may do it in a minor but no less real degree in daily life, for by every personal improvement achieved you make the whole a little better. For men a n one, though as yet most of them know it not; and if, knowing and feeling that unity, you act consciously on behalf of humanity without slightest thought of self, the karma that you


generate will go to lighten its oppressive load, and in your sacrifice of personal gain the whole wide world rejoices. Thus you share with all your brethren your devotion, your good thought, your knowledge, thus following humbly in the footsteps of the great Saviours of mankind.

Hold firmly to the unity among yourselves, and do nothing to imperil it, for it is your most precious possession, won hardly and by long-continued effort; let no link ever fail in the golden chain of love, but draw it ever closer and closer, until in the hands of our Lord the Deliverer1 it is strong enough to lift the world. And thus I give to you that greatest of all blessings, that through you His world may be blessed.

If you search for Truth in the realms of Maya, in the realm of the intellect or of mere emotionalism, or in the physical sense-world alone, you will never find it. Yet when you have found it you realize that it is contained in them all. You cannot separate life from any expression of life and yet you must be able to distinguish between life and its expressions.

Krishnamurti in Life in Freedom

1 The Bodhisattva, the Lord Maitreya.

ESOTERIC TEACHINGS OF H. P. BLAVATSKY

{Continued from Vol. L U I, Part I, p. 638}

February 11, 1891

Perception. Very little instruction was given on this occasion; in answer to a question on the 7 stages of perception given on a previous evening, H.P.B. said that thought should be centred on the highest, the 7th, and then an attempt to transcend this will prove that it is impossible to go beyond it on this plane. There is nothing in the brain to carry the thinker on, and if thought is to rise yet further it must be thought without a brain. Let the eyes be closed, the will set not to let the brain work, and then the point may be transcended and the student will pass to the next plane. All the seven stages of perception come before Antaskarana; if you can pass beyond them you are on the Manasic plane. Try to imagine something which transcends your power of thought; say, the nature of the Dhyan Chohans. Then make the brain passive, and pass beyond. You will see a white radiant light, like silver, but opalescent as mother of pearl. The waves of colour will pass over it, beginning in the tenderest violet, and through bronze shades of green to indigo with metallic lustre and that colour will remain. If you see this, you are on another plane. You should pass through seven stages.


When a colour comes, glance at it, and if it is not good, reject it. Let your attention be arrested only on the green, indigo and yellow. These are good colours. The eye being connected with the brain, the colour you see most easily will be the colour of the personality. If you see red, it is merely physiological and is to be disregarded. Green bronze is the lower Manas, yellow bronze the Antaskarana, Indigo-bronze is Manas. These are to be observed, and when the yellow- bronze merges into the indigo you are on the Manasic plane.

On the Manasic plane you see the noumena, the essence of phenomena. You do not see people or other consciousness, but have enough to do to keep your own. The trained seer can see noumena always. The Adept sees the noumena on this plane [as] the reality of things; so cannot be deceived.

In meditation the beginner may waver backwards and forwards between two planes. You hear the ticking of a clock on this plane; then on the Astral, the soul of the ticking. When clocks are stopped here, the ticking goes on on a higher plane. In the Astral and then in the ether, until the last bit of the clock is gone. It is the same as with a dead body, which sends out emanations until the last molecule is disintegrated.

There is no [sense of] time in meditation, because there is no succession of states of consciousness on this plane.

Violet is the colour of the Astral. You begin with it, but should not stay in i t ; try to pass on. When you see a sheet of violet, and then green in the centre of the violet, you are beginning, unconsciously, to form a Mayavi-Rupa. Fix your attention, and if you go away keep your consciousness firmly to the Mayavic body ; do not lose sight of it, hold on like grim death.

March 11, 1891

The consciousness which is merely the animal consciousness is made up of the consciousness of all the cells in the

1932 ESOTERIC TEACHINGS OF H. P- BLAVATSKY 15

body except those of the heart. The heart is the King, the most important organ in the body of man. Even if the head be severed from the body, the heart will continue to beat for some 30 minutes. It will beat for some hours, if wrapped in cotton wool and put in a warm place. The spot in the heart which is the last of all to die is the seat of life, the centre of all, Brahma, the first spot that lives in the foetus and the last that dies. When a yogi is buried in trance, it is this spot that lives, though the rest of the body be dead, and as long as this ■is alive the yogi can be resurrected. This spot contains potentially mind, life, energy and will. During life it radiates prismatic colours, fiery and opalescent. The heart is the centre of spiritual consciousness, as the brain is the centre of intellectual. But this consciousness cannot be guided by a person, nor its energy directed by him, until he is at one with Buddhi-Manas: until then it guides him—if it can. Hence the pangs of remorse, the prickings of conscience ; they come from the heart, not the head. In the heart is the only manifested God ; the other two are invisible, and it is this which represents the triad, Atma-Buddhi-Manas.

In reply to a question whether the consciousness might not be concentrated in the heart and so the promptings of the spirit caught: H. P. B. said that anyone who could thus concentrate would be at one with Manas, would have united Kama-Manas to the Higher Manas. The Higher Manas could not directly guide Man, it could only act through the Lower Manas. There are three principal centres in M an: head, heart and navel; any two of which may be + or — to each other according to the relative predominance of the centres.

The heart represents the Higher Triad, A ; the liver and spleen represent the Quaternary. The Solar Plexus is the brain of the stomach.

H. P. B. was asked if the three centres above named would represent the Christos, crucified between two thieves: she


said it might serve as an analogy, but the figures must not be overdriven. It must never be forgotten that the Lower Manas is the same in its essence as the Higher, and may become one with it by rejecting Kamic impulses. The crucifixion of the Christos represents the self-sacrifices of the Higher Manas— the Father that sends his only begotten son into the world to take upon him our sins ; the Christ myth came from the Mysteries. So also did the life of Apollonius of Tyana. This was suppressed by the Fathers of the Church, because of its striking similarity to the life of Christ. The psycho-intel^ lectual man is all in the head with its seven gateways ; the spiritual man is in the heart. The convolutions are formed by thoughts.

The third ventricle in life is filled with light, and not with a liquid as after death.

There are 7 cavities in the brain, which are quite empty during life, and it is in these that visions must be reflected if they are to remain in the memory. These centres are, in occultism, called the 7 harmonics, the scale of the divine harmonics. They are filled with Akasa, each with its own colour, according to the state of consciousness in which you are. The 6th is the pineal gland, which is hollow and empty during life ; the 7th is the whole; the 5th is the third ventricle ; the 4th the pituitary body. When Manas is united to Atma Buddhi, or when Atma Buddhi is centred in Manas, it acts in the 3 higher cavities, radiating, sending forth a halo of light, and this is visible in the case of a very holy person.

The cerebellum is the centre, the store house of all the forces; it is the karma of the heart. The pineal gland corresponds to the uterus, its peduncles to the fallopian tubes.

The pituitary body is only its servant, its torch-bearer, like the servants bearing lights that used to run before the carriage of a Princess. Man is thus androgyne, so far as his head is concerned. Man contains in himself every element

1932 ESOTERIC TEACHINGS OF H. P. BLAVATSKY 17

in the universe. There is nothing in the Macrocosm that is not in the Microcosm. The pineal gland, as said, is quite empty ; the pituitary contains various essences. The granules in the pineal are precipitated after death within the cavity.

The cerebellum furnishes the materials for ideation; the frontal lobes of the cerebrum are the finishers and polishers of the materials, but they cannot create of themselves. Clairvoyant perception is the consciousness of touch : thus, reading letters at the pit of the stomach, psychometrizing substances, etc. Every sense has its consciousness, and you can have consciousness through every sense. There may be consciousness on the plane of sight, though the brain be paralyzed ; the eyes of the paralyzed person will show terror. So with the sense of hearing. Those who are physically blind, deaf or dumb, are still possessed of the psychic counterparts of these senses.

Eros in man is the will of the genius to create great pictures, great music, things that will live and serve the race.. It has nothing in common with the animal desire to create. Will is of the Higher Manas. It is the universal harmonious tendency acting by the Higher Manas. Desire is the outcome of separateness, aiming at the satisfaction of self in matter. The path opened between the Higher Ego and the Lower enables the Ego to act on the personal self.

It is not true that a man powerful in evil can suddenly be converted and become as powerful for good. His vehicle is. too defiled, and he can at best but neutralize the evil, balancing up the bad Karmic causes he has set in motion, at any rate for this incarnation. You cannot take a herring barrel and use it for attar of roses : the wood is too soaked through with the drippings. When evil tendencies and impulses have become impressed on the physical nature they cannot at once be reversed. The molecules of the body have been set in a Karmic direction, and though they have sufficient


intelligence to discern between things on their own plane, i.e., to avoid things harmful to themselves, they cannot understand a change of direction, the impulse to which is from another plane. If they are forced too violently, disease, madness, or death will result.

Absolute eternal Motion, Parabrahm, which is nothing and everything, [is] motion inconceivably rapid; in this, Motion throws off a film which is energy, Eros. It transforms itself to Mulaprakriti, primordial substance, which is still energy. This energy still transforming itself in its ceaseless and inconceivable motion, becomes the Atom, or rather the germ of the atom, and then it is on the 3rd plane.

Our Manas is a ray from the World-Soul, and is withdrawn at Pralaya. “ It is, perhaps, the Lower Manas of Parabrahm,” that is, of the Parabrahm of the Manifested Universe. The first film is energy, or Motion on the manifested plane. Alaya is the Third Logos, Maha Buddhi, Mahat. We always begin on that 3rd plane : beyond that all is inconceivable. Atma is focussed in Buddhi, but is embodied only in Manas: these being the Spirit, Soul and body of the Universe.

( f t be continued}

If every one of us will work, strenuously and continuously, until each has purged his own heart of every trace of resentment against every person, who has, he thinks, injured him, we shall then find, perhaps to our surprise, that Peace is reigning over the whole world.

Annie Besant

LETTERS OF H. P. BLAVATSKY TO ANNIE BESANT

{Continued from Vol. LI1I, Part I, p. 634}

VII

E. S. T. S.

Strictly Private,

Theosophical Head Quarters,19, Avenue Road,

Regent's Park, N . IV., London, New Year’s Eve, 1891.

To Annie Besant and Isabel Cooper (0 ) .1“ The Kingdom of God is taken by violence ”, is a

paraphrase from “ The realm of divine knowledge is taken by force and perseverance ”, it does not descend to the Chela; it is the disciple who has to ascend to it, and to penetrate its adamantine walls. In the East, the Guru and Chela stand in the relation of the Higher and the Lower Manas—One, yet for ever separated, unless the lower forces itself upon the H igher: it is not in the power of the latter to refuse or to accept. There is no “ impertinence ” to asking, but it is certainly useless if you have the right to take ; and every one has it, who has in him the power to reachf

1 Isabel Cooper-Oakley was ber married name, her maiden name being Cooper.9 This paragraph is in the handwriting of Mrs. Cooper-Oakley. What follows

is in H. P. B.’s handwriting, though unusually small.


My dear friends, you make too much of me, who am but the unworthy and humble, though devoted servant of the MASTER, beyond. He and I can accept you, but until your Higher Ego, with the light on the Higher SELF on it does, the first Triangle will never become a complete Tetraktis, If you feel ready—go on, and you will soon find it out. To reach the Shangna robe, one must first reach the plant; and thorny are the paths that lead the chela to the sacred spot.

However, I am your true friend till the blessed day of my deliverance.

H. P. B. /.

VIII

Esoteric

17, Lansdowne road,Holland Park, IV.,

[No date].Dearest Annie,

I see that the builders have forgotten the little windows—the ventilators on the top of the walls of the Occult Room. Ifeel sure that before we come to the end of building therewill be fifty mistakes made. Do, dear, put a stop to it. Letall your workmen work at something else until I am in thehouse myself. Do make them stop and begin the covered porchand finish everything, leaving the O.R. statu quo. Othermistakes may be fatal and not so easily repaired. Put the keyinto your pocket and give it to no one, please. When I am onthe spot I can direct myself. The mirrors are not ready1, my

1 This Occult Room was never finished. I remember it well at the 19, Avenue Road Headquarters, where 1 resided during three years. The “ esoteric working room,” referred to in the next letter, was in my time the office of the European Section, out of which a wooden partition divided off a part about six feet wide as the E. S. T. office of Miss Laura Cooper (later Mrs. G. R. S. mead). From this E. S. T. office, one descended by four or five steps (my memory here is vague) into a small heptagonal or octagonal room about eight feet in diameter. It had a glass roof—blue, if I recollect rightly. Each wall of the room was to be covered with a particular metal. The mirrors—of which I recollect seeing one, in some

1932 LETTERS OF H. P. BLAVATSKY TO ANNIE BESANT 21

things have not yet come from India and were the O.R. finished now externally it would still remain useless and can not be used till the rest is. Please, darling, do so. I am afraid confusion has become still more confused since a certain day. I know it is all because I could not be there. Let the blessed A rch1 see that my rooms are finished and dry and then I come like a shot.

Annie, I am most profoundly miserable. Why, you would hardly understand. I believe but in one person in England and this is YOU.

Goodbye, darling,Yours ever,

H. P. B. IX

Monday morning,17, Lansdowne Road,

Holland Park, W.My darling Penelope,

Do not accuse your old “ occult nurse ” of not knowing her mind, but I have dreamed of a dreadful thing. I saw that if a door from my study was opened into the esoteric working room on the right side of the fire place—i.e., toward, and on the right side of my desk it will cram me utterly preventing me to place my pigeon hole on my right side and leaving no room to move. So I have called forth the picture of the future before me and see that the only way of making things comfortable was to open it (the door) on the left side, there,cupboard, about one foot in diameter, and concave—were intended for some purpose of concentrating both light and occult influence upon the esoteric student who was to be seated in the centre of the room for “ development I am told that there was an opening, a window, from H.P.B.’s room into the Occult Room, so that she could keep the student in Yoga under observation. In 1899, Dr. Besant disposed of the lease of the house. After remaining for a while empty, Mrs. Katharine Tingley took possession of it, as her London centre. The house later was pulled down, and a more modern one erected in its place.—C. J.

1 Archibald Keightley.


where I wanted to place my large press for dresses, (the 20 gui1 one.)

With great reluctance then I give up the idea and will place it in my bedroom along the interior wall, and to preserve myself from catching cold from the entrance door will fix a high screen, at the head of the bed and along its side.

You know how I like to expand and extend in my writing corner, and how I need all the available space for it. Now, if I place my writing desk near the window (with conservatory) and parallel to it I may have space to put my pigeon hole table, etc., on my left, but there will be no room to put anything on the right, and instead of being encased in my threesided square thus I will condemn myself to misery

in a two-sided flapdoodle right side was paralyzed, concluded to do—Behold coes, here below :

desk3AOoeroA

and feel as though my This is then how I have my Michael Angelo fres-

1932 LETTERS OF H. P. BLAVATSKY TO ANNIE BESANT 23

So that this is settled for good. Make the door on the side where the clothes press was to go and I will order myself a solid screen to conceal my bed and protect me from draughts (not drafts which would be but too welcome).

Y ours----- 1 your,female Ulysses,

H. P. B.

[To be continued}

This open page of my Diary . . . brings back to my memory one of the most delightful episodes of the Theosophical Movement, and I see a picture of H. P. B. in her shabby wrapper, sitting on her locker opposite me, smoking cigarettes, her huge head with its brown crinkled hair bent over the page she was writing on, her forehead full of wrinkles, a look of introverted thought in her light blue eyes, her aristocratic hand driving the pen swiftly over the lines, and no sound to be heard save the liquid music of ripples against the boat’s sides, or the occasional rub of a coolly's naked foot on the roof above us , . .

Colonel Olsott in Old Diary Leaves.

’ A symbol perhaps, but has the appearance of a stenographer’s script for a word.

A VISION OF “ THE TEACHER OF GODS AND M EN” 1

By C. JINARAJADASA

ANY impression of Him cannot but be a fragmentary vision of the great Reality that He is. Yet one does get an

impression of the complexity of His being. One by one I will attempt to describe the various aspects of Him which appear in my mind as I look at Him and sense what He seems to be.

1. He is above all divisions and rivalries among the creeds, not because they are beneath His notice, but because they are all in Him. He understands each, and what it is attempting to do ; He strengthens whatever is best in each, and yet there is no strengthening by Him of its opposition to any rival creed. All the rivalries of creeds and sects are rivalries and strifes in His heart; they wound Him, but for all that He does not exclude them.

2. All the ways which men have discovered as leading to Salvation lead into Him, and through Him to the Goal. The road of each man to God is his own, and it is direct; and yet in a wondrous way every road enters into Him, and all men, whether they know it or not, go through Him to the realization of their highest achievement. Like as in a building of many stories, there may be staircases to its roof from the north corner and the south, from the east and the west, and

1 “ Sattha-deva-manussanam,” the Teacher of Devas and men, is the Pali phrase in the Buddhist scriptures which describes one aspect of the Lord Buddha. The phrase is used for His successor, known to*day as the Lord Maitreya Bodhisattva, the World-Teacher.

1932 A VISION OF “ THE TEACHER OF GODS AND MEN” 25

yet they all conduct to the roof whence is seen the glorious view of the surrounding country, so is He the One Edifice of Realization, in which all religions and philosophies are but stairways.

3. His attitude to mankind is almost indescribable in its awe-inspiring vastness and beauty. The whole world is to Him “ My World ” , As a mother loves her only child, broods over it with every thought and feeling, with passionate protection, so He broods over all men. And the phrase “ all men ” is not a vagueness to Him ; every man, every woman, every child, wise or ignorant, cultured or savage, saint or sinner, is to Him a precious being whom He loves and over whom He broods with infinite tenderness.

4. Though He streams forth a greater Love and Tenderness than we can conceive, yet He is a leader. His Love is not a quiescent Love ; He is the incarnation of Love Militant. That seems a contradiction—that Love could ever be martial. But there is no contradiction, for His Love is a Love that commands. It must be obeyed, as the darkness must obey the order to flee, when the light enters. His Love makes men into leaders; when they sense its benediction over them, they feel compelled to go out into the world and lead men away from their miseries. His Love not only commands; it commands with a plan of action. That is why He is a leader, a commander-in-chief, one who must be obeyed by those who have bent the knee to His service.

5. He is all the time dreaming and planning for the construction of new ways for Love. That is one part of His work—to plan, as an engineer of irrigation plans for canals and waterways to conduct the rain from heaven, that goes to waste, into untilled lands which will not bear for want of water. If only the might of Divine Love could descend into the homes of men, could be understood by each man as accompanying him as counsellor and guide, as

•« ‘


helper and comforter, swiftly men’s sufferings would vanish —such is one of His dreams. So this part of His work is ever to plan new and yet new ways in which Love’s streams shall irrigate the fields of men’s actions.

6. Of His great dreams One gets but the barest vision. His life with us men makes Him indescribably limited, for His true and fuller life among His peers is a glory beyond our imagination. Yet for our sake, and with tenderness and joy, He offers His sacrifice of limitation. But He dreams all the time of that day when, “ rejoicing, bearing His sheaves with Him,” He can lead myriads into those other fields of life of which men scarce know anything, where life is all bliss, and where service is joy. His vision is from a Pisgah’s height not in our world. And that vision is ever before Him, as “ for us men and for our salvation ” He lives His life of limitation among us.

7. Every woman who looks into His face discovers for the first time the One who understands. The eyes of all the Great Ones are understanding eyes. Yet in a supremely distinctive way, He stands alone. Every woman knows instinctively that He understands utterly all the complexities of her being, its storm and stress, its unrevealed and unrevealable depths. Strange as it may sound, many a woman feels that though the World Mother, once a woman herself, is full of understanding, yet there are things in a woman’s nature which even She cannot understand. But all women fall before Him in prostration of passionate gratitude, because there is nothing which He does not understand. That is why He streams forth not only benediction but also salvation. For love that understands—• such might of love as is His—saves also. To touch the fringe of His Love is to be born again to life, to fight life’s battles, and to conquer.

8. To be in His presence is to feel that in very truth “ the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest ”,

1932 A VISION OF “ THE TEACHER OF GODS AND MEN ” 27

Like some andante in a symphony, tender and appealing, which by its sheer beauty Seems to loosen all the knots in one’s heart, so is it when one is with Him. He is the “ Everlasting Arms ” enfolding the world, and to be with Him is to forget for the time the heaviness of the tasks which Karma gives. Bathed in beauty, the soul knows for a while what it is to grow as the flower grows.

9. Each who stands in the presence of a Master of the Wisdom bathes in strength and gains the assurance that “ all is well For each of the Great Ones is as a rock in a stormy sea. But when in His presence, this feeling is increased, and one’s intuition grasps that all is indeed well. Not that all now is well, nor that there is no misery in the world; but that His hands are disentangling the tangled threads of the world’s Karma, and that the day is sure when all sufferings shall disappear from the habitations of men. To some of us who, when confronted with the mountain ranges of evil which the world is steadily creating, despair because there seems to be no end to men’s miseries, to be in His presence is to be utterly sure that all the miseries will end, because He is at work and will not cease till His work is done.

10. There is one aspect of Him which is seen only in intermittent flashes, but when seen it holds the gaze because of its awe and indescribable beauty. He stands midway between man and God, for He is both man and God—God “ not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God,” and man, “ of the Substance of his Mother, born in the world ”. All men’s joys and sorrows rise up to God through Him ; as the ideal Priest, He offers them up to the Most High. But He offers up men’s joys with an intensity which is His own gift and He offers their sorrows transformed into an ideal glowing beauty by the fire of His sacrifice. His eyes are ever turned downwards


to men, and He broods over them in pity, weeping with them in their agonies. But His eyes are ever turned upwards also, for He ever gazes into the glory of the Most High, and His heart is full of the chant of triumph and victory. To men who struggle and are in need, His eyes are sorrowful eyes bending down to them in understanding and pity, for He is indeed a Man of Sorrows. But there are those whose struggles are ended to whom His eyes flash an intense joy—the joy of one whose life-streams rush upwards in love, sacrifice, and rapture of offering to Him “ who shines beyond the darkness,” whom once seen thought can turn to none other.

* * * * *This fragmentary vision is a little brother’s vision of the

Great Brother of all the World. What further visions of Him await us, who shall say ?

Festival of Asadha

July 29, 1931.

Never a sigh of passion or of pity,Never a wail for weakness or for wrong,

Has not its archive in the angels’ city,Finds not its echo in the endless song.

F. W. H. Myers, St. Paul.

THE TEACHINGS OF KRISHNAMURTI

i n

INDIVIDUAL UNIQUENESS

By J. V. JOSHI, M.A. (Cantab.)

HIS is an age of standardized machine-made goods andJ- mass production ; quality is sacrificed to quantity and

art to cheapness. Religion, which is the expression of the spiritual craving in man, has also become standardized, priesthoods and orthodoxies being powerful factors. Education, which ought to help men to be cultured, tends to produce types, and forces the human mind through moulds which make it incapable of true originality in thought. In social life the same tendencies are to be noticed. Law, which is supposed to be the collective conscience of the community,, is often an engine of oppression to those who deviate from the accepted ideas of right or wrong. Social ideas have crystallized into conventions, defiance of which is visited with a savage form of punishment, namely, social ostracism. In politics it is the same, deviation from the views of the majority, or of a powerful ruling minority, is punished as sedition, socialism and even immorality. Thus all the forces in society are tending to enforce a standardized form on life in all its aspects.

The human mind however has a natural love of liberty and hates all forms. Vital thought cannot be put into as


mould, and in every aspect of life a vital person, a person with courage, breaks these moulds; thus in every ossified society the hero is always a revolutionary, a destroyer. Even God Himself takes the aspect of Shankar, the Destroyer, so that His creation may not stagnate. When society therefore is being standardized as at present, the thoughtful person sounds the protestant note to gain liberty. First came intellectual liberty, next religious liberty. Political liberty was the cry of the nineteenth century, and economic liberty is the cry of the present. And now comes Krishnamurti with his cry of individual liberty in its truest sense.

According to Krishnamurti every individual is unique in his own way, and to try to force him into any set form of conduct is to stifle that individual uniqueness which is the individual’s approach to truth. If individual uniqueness is to have free play, everyone must have full liberty to order his life in his own way. without the interference of society or groups or governments. This, as will be seen, is a revolutionary doctrine but one which expresses the spirit of our times.

The point in Krishnamurti’s teaching on which he lays the greatest emphasis is his exhortation to everyone to be true to his own self and never to rely on any outside authority. As Krishnamurti puts i t :

What you gather from your experience, from your own knowledge is lasting, is permanent, and nobody, whoever he may be, can destroy that which you have created with your own hands, with your own sufferings, with your own afflictions. Out of that comes the desire to live nobly ; for who can give the desire to live nobly except yourself?Krishnamurti attaches great importance to individual uniqueness; if authority is accepted, then it creates a stereotyped individual, and thus stifles uniqueness. Krishnamurti is therefore against all acceptance of authority:

We must be varied in order to produce the perfect thing. A garden full of roses however beautiful becomes monotonous.

1932 THE TEACHINGS OF KRISHNAMURTI 31

According to Krishnamurti every one must cultivate his own point of view, his own ideal, on the basis of his own experience and according to his own intelligence. Religious orthodoxy is incompatible with this, for every orthodoxy tries to mould life into a fixed type and that will kill individual uniqueness. Thus according to Krishnamurti the blind acceptance of any belief without understanding is the very negation of spirituality : for blind acceptance is based on fear, and true happiness can never result from fear. He says:

Through fear comes the formation of sects, of narrow groups, of individuals who cling together in their imitation.

He wants us to replace belief by understanding, for understanding is based on a wise assimilation of our experiences and is essentially our own ; it cannot therefore fail us, whereas beliefs not based on understanding are bound to give way in times of real trials. If understanding is to be the law, then only will individual uniqueness have full play, for understanding will remove the great impediment, which is a blind acceptance of authority and the shaking into a given mould. If uniqueness has any meaning, then the individual perception of truth cannot be standardized. As Krishnamurti puts i t :

Life is not working to produce a type, life is not creating graven images. Life makes you entirely different one from the other and in diversity must your fulfilment be and not in the production of a type.

In other words: as there is individual uniqueness so must the realization of truth be individual and different for every one. That is why Krishnamurti calls truth a pathless land. This takes away the support from every religious orthodoxy. Truth cannot be the monopoly of any particular body; the arrogation of such a position will be against the principle of individual uniqueness. Every one has therefore the right to experiment with truth in his own way. Some may work through art, some through knowledge, others through action.


No one path is better than the other, as every path will ultimately lead to truth and happiness. Thus perfect toleration, which is the essence of all liberty, is seen to be the natural outcome of the application of individual uniqueness. Freedom however must not be exercised in an anti-social manner. As Krishnamurti puts it in answer to a question:

Individual Uniqueness does not mean individualism run rampant, but on the contrary individualism trained to perfection which is harmony. This does not mean the aggrandisement of the self but its purification.

The principle of individual uniqueness is thus seen to have a positive as well as a negative side. It means the rejection of all authority and blind belief; but it also means the training and perfection of oneself through experience and intelligence. After all, every thoughtful person is sooner or later driven to enquire into the purpose of human life, and in order to understand this purpose individual uniqueness has to be developed. In other words, one studies one’s own tendencies and one’s own experiences. And here Krishnamurti points out th a t:

The purpose of individual existence is to wear down this individuality, this ego of reactions, by recollectedness, by constant awareness, by concentration in all that you are doing with this purpose in mind.

Thus pure being is realized in which there is no separation, which is the realization of the unity of all life. The fulfilment of man’s destiny is to be the totality; individual uniqueness is important because without it one cannot realize the truth which is pure being, in which there is neither “ you ” nor “ I ”. Sects and organizations cannot do this, because they try to enforce set types of conduct which imprison life rather than liberate it. Forms imposed from outside make one conscious of oneself, whereas if one lives naturally, one is hardly aware of the forms. This principle of individual uniqueness has thus a far-reaching effect on our


spiritual life. It teaches us to be free of all dogmas, to be tolerant of the point of view of others, and to approach truth in our own way. Religious orthodoxy is therefore out of the question as truth cannot be standardized, and every orthodoxy tries to do this.

Any organization which restricts the liberty of the individual to order his life in his own way will be inimical to individual uniqueness, and thus would obstruct rather than , help the realization of Truth. To assume, however, that all organizations without distinction are inimical to individual 1 uniqueness is an unwise attitude which is responsible for the so-called crisis in the Theosophical Society. If the Theosophical Society were an organization which stifled the liberty of the individual to order his life in his own way, then it would be definitely harmful. But the one thing which the Society has insisted upon from its inception is the principle of freedom of thought. The Society does not prescribe any dogma for acceptance before admission. The only object which has to be accepted by every one wishing to join it is his faith in Universal Brotherhood. Even this principle may be interpreted by every member in his own way. And one may venture to enquire whether this principle of Universal Brotherhood is really different from many statements in Krishnamurti’s own teaching about the purpose of life.

Krishnamurti has said more than once that the purpose of life is to get rid of the idea of separation, and to be united to the totality of all life. Does this mean any other thing than Universal Brotherhood which is the cardinal principle of the Theosophical Society ? And if not, then what reason is there for a crisis in the Theosophical Society / because of Krishnamurti’s teaching ? If Theosophists have been intolerant, have been laying down the taw for others,then they have failed as Theosophists, and Krishnamurti’s

□


teaching will help them to become better Theosophists. But there is no reason to identify the whole Society with such misguided Theosophists, as there is no reason to identify Krishnamurti’s teaching with the emotional exuberance of some of his so-called followers.

The Theosophical Society is a body of seekers after Truth in their own way, and it does not lay down the law for its members. In fact, the doctrine of individual uniqueness which Krishnamurti so emphatically preaches, has been the corner-stone of Theosophical teaching. Further, the Esoteric School, it may be remarked, is one of the methods of experimenting with Truth. After all if we can experiment with Krishnamurti’s teaching, so can we with the teaching given in the Esoteric School. As long as members of the School do not arrogate to themselves the position of the only custodians of Truth, so long they must have the liberty to experiment in their own way. Individual uniqueness, if it has any meaning, must allow th is ; otherwise a Krishnamurti orthodoxy will be created which may be worse than, any old. one. As a student of Krishnamurti’s teaching, my own feeling is that if we rightly understand him we shall become better Theosophists, and need not hasten to leave the Society as an orthodox organization inimical to individual uniqueness.

There is another aspect to this question. Krishnamurti emphasizes that the Path to Reality must be different for every one. The joining of a body like the Theosophical Society or the Esoteric School does not deny this principle, any more than the joining of a learned Society denies the liberty of every member to pursue his study in his own way. And after all has not every searcher after truth to observe a certain discipline ? Physical science has a discipline of its own and so have the social sciences; but this discipline is not a denial of individual liberty or uniqueness. A second point to be noted is that the perception of truth may come through

1932 THE TEACHINGS; OF KRISHNAMURTI 35

any study or experience. The physicist may perceive the truth through the study of atoms and electrons; the astronomer may perceive it through the study of stars, and a study of super-physical science, as it were, may also lead to the perception of truth. Some minds are content with investigating their own experiences and tendencies, and thus arrive at truth, while others want to understand the world and life around them. But a mere knowledge of the world around us will not make us spiritual, unless that knowledge leads to better conduct; and the same can be said of Krishnamurti’s* teaching. As he puts i t :

In listening to what I have said about pure action, realization, pure being, do not get lost in abstractions and metaphysics and forget ordinary conduct, the way . to live, the way to be. You m^y theorise about pure being or happiness or liberation, but if you are jealous, envious, greedy for possessions, cruel, thoughtless, inconsiderate, of what value are your theories ?

Is not the same advice given by Theosophical teachers ? How often have they insisted on the importance of the Theosophical life as against merely Theosophical or occult knowledge? If Theosophists follow their way with understanding, and not with a blind belief in authority, then they will not stifle their individual uniqueness. Krishnamurti is not against beliefs which are the result of one’s own understanding of life, but against those which are accepted blindly on the authority of another.

The principle of individual uniqueness is applicable to tVie whole of human life. Krishnamurti himself has applied it to many human institutions and activities. Consider the individual in relation to society. If individual uniqueness is to have free play in any society, then the tyranny of worn- out traditions must be rigorously done away with. Unless a man has freedom to order his own life according to his understanding, there will be friction and conflict, and this will be the negation of true peace and happiness. Moreover, society


loses a great deal by not allowing experiments. It is a truism of history that the heresies of to-day are the orthodoxies of to-morrow. As Prof. Laski points ou t:

New truth begins always in a minority of one ; it must be some one’s perception before it becomes a general perception. The world gains nothing from a refusal to entertain the possibility that a new idea may be true.

Suppression leads nowhere; it can never stifle tru th ; all that it generally succeeds in doing is to inculcate fear which is the negation of true liberty. Society must therefore allow individuals to order their own life in their own way, as long as their conduct is not definitely anti-social. Professor Laski rem arks:

Since each man’s experience is ultimately unique, he alone can fully appreciate its significance himself; he can never be free save as he is able to act upon his own private sense of that interpretation. Unfreedom means to him a denial of his experience, a refusal on the part of organized society to satisfy what he cannot help taking to be the lesson of his life.

It will be seen from this that the society which allows a great deal of individual liberty is likely to be most productive of human happiness and progress. The true enemy of individual liberty, as Krishnamurti has pointed out, is dead tradition ; “ tradition which has lost its soul,” “ ancient forms through which the spirit breathes no more ” must not be allowed to rule the life of a living society. This is true for all countries but the lesson is particularly applicable to India. As Krishnamurti points out:

Our traditions, our religious and social customs are crystallised cruelties and selfishnesses, such as infant marriages, the heartless restriction which we place on widows, our treatment of women generally, the whole system of untouchability, what are these but matters in which the dead weight of custom has crushed out of us the ordinary decent feelings which should sweeten and harmonise the life of human beings ?

Every custom, every detail of one’s life must be judged at the bar of reason and individual understanding, and every individual may accept or reject a custom according to his


understanding based on his own experience and intelligence. No custom must be tolerated because it is old or enjoined by religion. Each custom must stand the test of reason and humanity; no one should be coerced by the fear of social ostracism. What is true of India is true in lesser or greater degree of other countries. The tyranny of marriage laws, or the tyranny of economic classes is a negation of individual uniqueness, as it takes away the right of the individual ta order his own life.

Full individual liberty, as long as it is not used anti- socially, must be the order of society. Without this there can be no true happiness and progress; to force individuals to conform to types is to kill their originality and initiative. In such an atmosphere true progress will be impossible, and such a society will stagnate and decay. Moreover the sense of being thwarted is sure to break out in some violence or other, and repressed life will result in a fanatical revolution which will recklessly destroy the good and the bad alike in the old order. The nemesis of Tsarist Russia is Bolshevism, and of the ancien regime in France was the “ Reign of Terror” .

If individual uniqueness is to have full scope, power— whether political or economic—must not be the monopoly of any group or class. If power is in possession of the few, then it is bound to be used in such a way as to stifle individual liberty. As Prof. Laski again points ou t:

The chief danger which always confronts a society is the desire of those who possess power to prohibit ideas and conduct which may disturb them in their possessions. They are rarely concerned with the possible virtues of novelty and experiment. They are interested in the preservation of a static society because in such an order their desires are more likely to be fulfilled. Their ideas of right and wrong lie at the service of those desires.

Diffusion of power is a much better guarantee of individual liberty than a concentration of it in the hands of the few. Thus Krishnamurti’s idea of individual uniqueness,


which raises the dignity of the individual, is very fruitful in its application to politics and economics, and it is in keeping w ith the most advanced and progressive thought on the •subject.

The principle of individual uniqueness has a special bearing on the theory and practice of education. The present educational methods force the student’s mind into certain moulds, and except in a few cases discourage independent thinking. The result is the production of standardized human tbeings who are incapable of original thinking; only strong minds escape the blighting effect of this education. Education should develop the student’s own aptitudes and capacities, and should encourage independent thinking. Education should not be stereotyped as at present; the development of the brain should not be the only concern of the teacher, the development of the emotions and taste is of equally great importance; thus art, and social work, and corporate life should have a distinct place in education. If my Latin is right, the word “ educate ” is derived from

“ out ” and duco “ to bring ” ; thus, literally, education means to bring out what is in the student. And what is in him is his individual uniqueness: to bring that out the methodmust be so adapted as to suit each individual.

There is another aspect in which our educational system, especially in India, goes against the principle of individual uniqueness, and Krishnamurti has pointed this out:

The desire for adventure, the desire to seek one’s expression of life, that is self-expression, is being thwarted in every school and college in India. Fear of free self-expression is instilled in you and you are not given the opportunity to express yourself. The function of education is to train you to express yourself in your own way and when there is true self-expression, there cannot be conflict with another. Bearing this in mind examine what is education at the present time. What happens in every school and in every college ? You notice that from childhood upwards at home as well as at school, fear is being instilled—fear of parents, fear of traditions, fear of not passing examinations, fear of not finding a job, etc. So the

1932 THE TEACHINGS OF KRISHNAMURTI 3£

whole background of education from that tender age upwards is fear,, and where there is fear there is the death knell of all initiative.

As Krishnamurti has stated, the purpose of education is to- develop your own individual uniqueness, not to turn you out as a machine to function without disturbing the social structure of the world in the least. To develop your uniqueness you must have the proper environment which will give the opportunity for expansion physically, emotionally and mentally, so that you may grow without fear, and without being thwarted. If students are taught to act freely and without repression, then they are likely to develop their own desires, feelings and thoughts in their own way. The full force of life will be set free, and this would mean more creative work, more truly original work, and it would increase the happiness of the individual.

Krishnamurti’s principle of individual uniqueness raises the dignity of the individual as against groups and organizations. He feels that mere changes in organizations can never help humanity towards happiness. He believes that the development of the individual is absolutely essential if any real progress is to be achieved. As he puts i t :

The world problem is the individual problem ; if the individual is at peace, has happiness, has great tolerance, and an intense desire to help, then the world problem as such ceases to exist.

Thus the approach to the world problem according to Krishnamurti is through the individual. sE very idea, every action, every institution must be judged according to its effect on the individual. No individual, however, can be truly happy, can attain the full measure of his stature, unless he is free in the true sense of the word. The enemy of true freedom is the blind acceptance of authority and the weak submission to tyrannical power. Krishnamurti therefore teaches a rejection of all authority, whether in religion or in any other social*, activity.


It will be interesting to try to express Krishnamurti’s teaching about individual uniqueness in what he calls “ Theosophical jargon ”. Individual uniqueness may be expressed in Theosophical terminology as the individuality or ego expressing itself in the three aspects of Atma, Buddhi and Manas. As such it is higher than the personality which changes from one birth to another. Krishnamurti has explained this clearly in Experience and Conduct. He says :

Do not confuse individual temperament with individual uniqueness : temperaments depend on birth, involving difference in environment, race consciousness, heredity and so on. (Theosophists would call this personality.) Individual uniqueness is continuous through birth and death, is the sole guide through your whole existence as a separate individual, until you reach the goal.

Theosophists would call this the ego which, it is stated, will be united to the Monad, which is the spark of the Divine. Krishnamurti’s principle of individual uniqueness is therefore a recognition that every ego is different from every other, and, that each has an individuality which is unique. Theosophists, with their classification of egos into different rays and subrays, have sometimes appeared a little indifferent to this principle of uniqueness. Classification as an aid to knowledge is invaluable, but it must never blind one to the recognition that, when dealing with human beings, classification is a form of abstraction and is true in a limited sense only.

It has been wisely said that man is never the sum total of his qualities : there is something which defies analysis and which gives him his individual uniqueness. Dr. Besant and Bishop Leadbeater have recognized th is ; as has been pointed out in The Masters and the Path, each pupil is dealt with by the Master in an entirely different way. No two pupils will go through the same experiences even in relation to their Master. This is essentially a recognition of the principle of individual uniqueness. Even as regards the goal, there is the same similarity in the old and the new teaching. The purpose


of individual existence according to Krishnamurti is to be united with the totality in which there is no separation, no subject or object. As he clearly puts i t :

The fulfilment of man’s destiny is to be the totality. It is not a question of losing yourself in the Absolute, but that you by growth, by continual conflict, by adjustment shall become the whole. According to Theosophical teachings the ideal for the ego is to be united with all and to lose the heresy of separation. Bishop Leadbeater has pointed out that the experience of unity, which Initiates have, is not of merging in the Absolute, not of the drop slipping into the sea, but as he suggestively puts it, of the sea in some way being poured into the drop. This is almost the same as the teaching of Krishnamurti which has been quoted above. When the unity of all life is perfectly realized, becoming a part of one’s nature, and not realized only in exaltation, then the man has reached his goal by whatever name it may be called.

Thus it will be seen that Krishnamurti’s teaching about individual uniqueness and the end of individual existence is not so different from Theosophical teaching. There may of course be a difference in emphasis, but essentially the teaching is one. And this is in the rightness of things. Truth may be presented in different aspects but must be essentially the same. It is the small minds which wrangle over seeming differences; the wise man perceives the unity and harmony and profits by the different presentations.

£qnn?5T: q q ^ a iqqwcqifera: II

vqi =q qUi =q q: tRqfb h q?qfa II1Children, not Sages, speak of the Sankhya and the Yoga as

different; he who is duly established in one obtaineth the fruits of both.That place which is gained by the Sankhyas is reached by the

Yogis also. He seeth, who seeth that the Sankhya and the Yoga are one..1 Bhagavad-Gita, V : 4, 5.

TH E ORIGINAL HINDU HOROSCOPE OF J. KRISHNAMURTIINTRODUCTION

T here has for long been much doubt as to the date of Mr. Krishna- m urti’s birth. The year has been given rightly as 1895, and the month that of May. But the day of the month has been given as the 4th, 11th and 25th. Curiously enough, these contradictory statements have all come from his father, the late Jiddu Narayaniah. However, all doubts are set at rest, because I give below a copy of the horoscope in Sanskrit and in translation, made by the Hindu astrologer at the birth of Krishnamurti. My copy is from the copy of the horoscope in the handwriting of the father, which the latter sent to Mr. G. E. Sutcliffe. One must presume that when the father gave the wrong dates, either he had not the horoscope by him or he was too careless to consult it.

The date is May 11th, 1895, according to the calculation of Hindu astrology, which reckons the day from about 4 a.m. to the following 4 a.m. In the West, the day is reckoned from midnight to midnight. The time of birth is thirty minutes past midnight. In the Hindu reckoning, this time is still a pact of the day, the 11th of May, whereas in Western reckoning it comes into the following day.

The day and time of Mr. Krishnamurti’s birth, then, i s :Hindu reckoning: May 11th, 1895, 12.30 a.m., of Saturday. Western reckoning: May 12th, 1895, 0.30 a.m., of Sunday.

The original horoscope is in Sanskrit. I presume it is written on palm-leaf, as is my own. The correct day, May 11th, was announced a few years ago, after a copy of this horoscope had come into my hands. Some Western astrologers have worked out horoscopes for Mr. Krishnamurti based on 12. 0 a.m. of May 11th, whereas on their system of calculation it should be 12.3U a.m., (i.e., 0.^0 a.m.J of May 12th.

C. J inarajadAsa.THE HOROSCOPE

1932 THE HOROSCOPE OF J. KRISHNAMURTI 43

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Translation

[May there be Good Fortune /]

On Saturday, the 3rd day of the dark fortnight of the month of Vaisakha, in the year Manmatha :

GhafikSs. 55-6. Constellation Jyeshfha, ghafikSs 33-6. Sivanamayoga, ghatikas 25-50. Vapikkarapa, ghatikas 24-41. Vi$haghafik3s-night 22-0. Length of daytime 31-42 ghatikas.

Amritam 10-11.Mercury enters the fourth quarter of the Constellation

Kpittika at 41.Venus enters the first quarter of the Constellation

Ardra at 56.Rahu enters the second quarter of the Constellation

PQrvabhadra.Ketu enters the fourth quarter of the Constellation

PurvaphalgunI at 5.The 30th day of the Solar month of Mesha (Aries).Bhukti (already passed) 3-46. ghatikas.This the position of the Calendar.On this auspicious day, at 16| ghatikas after sunset, in

the Zodiac sign of Kumbha (Aquarius), during the Surya-hora of Shani (Saturn),

„ „ Drekkana of Tula-Shani (Saturn in Libra),„ „ Navamsha of Tula-Shukra (Venus in Libra),,, „ Dvadashamsha of Kumbha-Shani ( S a t u r n in

Aquarius),„ „ Trimshamsha of Kuja (Mars).

At this harmonious time (Sattvika), endowed with the above six vargas was born the gem of a son to the great man Brahmasri Jiddu Narayaniah of the Gotra of Harita—the full- moon to the ocean of Jiddu family, endowed with everlasting day by day growing prosperity, blessed and adorned with the

1932 THE HOROSCOPE OF J. KRISHNAMURTI 45

grace of the Lord of Lakshmi ; in the womb-ocean of his wedded wife—Srimati Sanjivamma adorned with good luck and pure character.

The Position of the Planets at the Moment

CONSTELL. WHICH THE Planet Leaves

Quarter of Constell. P lanet

Krittika 1st SunMula 1st MoonArdra 4th MarsK rittika 4th M ercuryArdra 3rd JupiterMrigashira 4th VenusSvati 1st SaturnParvabhadra 2nd ' RahuParvaphalguni 4th Ketu

Born at 12.30 a.m. on the night of Saturday the 11th May, 1895.

Sun Mercury

MarsJupiterVenus

RahuLagnam

Ketu

Moon Saturn

MarsMercury

Moon Rahu

Jupiter

Saturn

Sun VenusKetu Lagnam

N.B.— Ghatika = 24 minutes = 60 Vighatikas.1

1 The day is divided into 60 Ghatikas of 24 minutes, and each Ghatika into 60 Vighatikas, and each Vighatika=24 secs.

THE LIVES OF ARCOR

[Continued from Vol. L III, Part I, p. 668}

RCOR’s sister and Arcor often talked about home and the- rx life there, and gradually they instilled into the Egyptian the idea of disgust with piracy. The subject came up in conversation when Arcor was fourteen, and the Egyptian said pirates were marked men and the others would kill him if he tried to go away; but evidently he did not like the whole thing, for by teaching Arcor and his sister he had brought up the best side of himself and would be glad to take Arcor, his sister and the small children to a better place.

Age seventeen. The Arab captain thought Arcor ought to go and raid. His protector, the Egyptian, opposed this and prevented it, but he saw that he could not long protect Arcor from going, and contrived to propose in a tentative way that he should retire with his wife and belongings. The pirates did not take it well. They said that a man who was in their secrets could not be spared; they were afraid of treachery, so he laughed it off, but he was confirmed in his intention. For a long time he did not see how to carry it out; but eventually he succeeded in making his escape during festivities in honour of the return of the crew from that raid in which Arcor did not go. Persian rugs, etc., had been brought back as loot. The Egyptian took his wife, children and Arcor (Knepht or Ktesiusj and they all went in a small ship, without much provision, and got off that night. The

1932 THE LIVES OF ARCOR 47

Egyptian took with him his share of the plunder, which was enough to set him up as a rich man.

The pirates pursued them next day, but not knowing which way to go they wasted time. There was no wind, and they overhauled the Egyptian as he was making his way to the mainland of Greece. He was looking for a place to run his boat ashore when they overhauled him, and he got his boat fixed fast amongst the rocks a little way from the shore. The pirates being two hundred to one massacred them. Arcor escaped. He was very fond of the first baby of his sister, though he had cared for none of the younger children; and seeing the massacre, this baby, then about nine years old, jumped overboard. Arcor was wounded, but he got a place clear around him for a moment and jumped overboard after the child with a javelin in his hand. The pirates threw things after him and two of them jumped after him, and as he was wounded they caught him up just as he reached the baby. Arcor killed one pirate with a fortunate thrust, but the other seized the spear and seemed to be having the best of it, when a shark seized him and Arcor and the baby escaped to the shore. There were many sharks about.

The pirates yelled from the ship, but the child helped to bind Arcor’s wounds and they hid amongst the rocks. The pirates landed and searched for them, but could not find them. The two got into a “ chimney” in the rocks and wriggled along a ledge and found a way out through a hole with water coming down. When the pirates searched the cave they could not see the two, who got above and lay hidden among the rocks until night. Next morning the pirates searched again, but gave it up and then the two, who were in a bad way, came down to the coast in a sheltered spot and got shellfish and ate them raw. Arcor was feverish from loss of blood, and the child was most helpful. After resting, they made their way inland and went along the coast. There


were coniferae growing as on the Riviera now and larches amongst them. It was rugged and difficult going, but they eventually came upon some fishing village, and at last got to Eleusis.

At Eleusis there was a big procession going on. Sirius, then about thirteen, was there taking part in it with his father and his mother. He came because an uncle was going through an initiation ; and he saw the child, who was starved and weak. There was a pressure in the crowd and she was pushed over a ten feet high rock and was hurt. Sirius was quick and agile and picked her up. Arcor came and bewailed that he could not get the child’s shoulder put to rights as he had no home. Sirius said, “ Oh ! come along to my father,” and they put the child to bed. Sirius catechised Arcor, as boys will, and thought his story a fine one. They waited till the child was better, put her in a litter and carried her back to Athens, to the beautiful house overlooking the bay, where the father of Sirius lived.

Arcor in those days was scrupulously honourable. There was much joyous immorality amongst the Greeks ; he was very rigid in that. He was an extraordinarily restless person. Sirius and his family felt they did not understand him, but Sirius and his brother Agathocles (Erato) did all they could to make him happy. Arcor was a Greek, and what the Greek did, did not matter—except drunkenness. That was considered to disgrace the nation and was a slave’s action. They did not tell social lies, but—somewhat on the lines of the Indian and Irishman,—they said what they thought would give pleasure. Public opinion was like that in America in the present day ; a successful lie excused itself. It was written : “ a lie is a shield for a wise man, but a spear for a fool.”

Arcor had at first a subsidiary position in the household, but afterwards was something like the bailiff of a large estate. Difficulties sometimes arose in which Arcor was right, but


the family felt, with so many nationalities about, it was wiser to shut one’s eyes. Arcor always did what he did on behalf of the family, but on the whole they sometimes thought it had been wiser not to see. Some of the people were devoted to Arcor, because he was kind when they were ill, but some things he set up as fetishes they could not understand. Curious fits swept over him, as in the next life the Berserker influence swept down on him, and he would go off when the grapes were ripe for picking—which was certainly inconvenient. Spasms came when Arcor almost hated the family because they did no work and were nobly born.

Sirius and his brother did not divide the estate, but lived very well together. When Arcor was aged eighteen, Sirius was fourteen, his brother Agathocles twelve, and Arcor’s niece twelve. Sirius and Agathocles played with the niece, and Arcor had rooms at the back of the house, looking on the second court-yard. There was a fountain ; but Arcor felt confined, and preferred the seashore and would sit there and dream about the past pirate times. He hated the pirates. The boys, Sirius and his brother, looked up to Arcor as a great hero, one who had done most gory and gaudy deeds. He was some time recovering from the effects of the journey.

Sirius’ mother was very kind to Arcor and would have been glad for him to remain in the household, but it was difficult to find something suitable for him to do. Clerk’s work, connected with the disposing of the produce—wine— was the first work given to him. They got rid of their surplus olive oil in ships. Arcor felt the work a tie. He liked to listen to the philosophical talk and drank it in eagerly.

After three years of clerk’s work, Arcor wanted to go on a voyage, so he was put in charge of the selling of the cargo. Usually the captain of the ship sold, but the family had a small fleet of ships, and Arcor was sent at his own request to see after the selling and, by luck, came back with a quantity


of silk, and it was sold at a high price. This voyaging Arcor did several times a year, or a year and a half would be spent on a voyage. This filled up many years, but he stopped at home now and then to see his niece.

This went on till the time when Sirius and his brother were sent on their grand tour, on board one of the trading ships, and Arcor went with them. They discussed philosophical questions with him, but the basis upon which they went was not the same. Arcor heard philosophy talked when the whole household sat round—he amongst them— about the time of afternoon tea, in the portico. Then the philosophical conversation was heard by a ll ; visitors came in and discussed. There was a good deal of gossip in Greece.

Kleinias (Uranus) came and settled in Athens, and founded a school of philosophy there after the death of Pythagoras. Arcor heard him when he came, and talked with him and heard some of his lectures.

Arcor certainly saw Pythagoras. He talked with Kleinias, and took philosophy up enthusiastically and went in for it, the social virtues side; but mathematics he could not understand and rebelled at. He worked hard at the philosophy and tried to apply it. He was self-tormenting. I see now a side of his life which we did not suspect then.

Arcor appeared to get on in life, without falling in love, to a later stage than usual. Then his past came before him and he felt his origin. He was rather curious ! And I should be inclined to say he did not behave quite well. It never came to anything, and ought to have done; it was hard on the girl. Arcor took the love fever badly, because he took it late, and then set himself to feel that the young person despised him. She was much younger than he was, and very much attached to h im ; but she did not like to show it and was too flighty and off-hand in manner in consequence, though she did not mean it. Arcor flung off; she tried in a


timid way to show him she liked him. He misunderstood and thought her heartless, and then she snubbed him, and there was much unnecessary suffering. Finally she got over it, and Arcor, finding she had transferred her affections, went off.

Sirius and the family generally did not know of all this. The girl was a relative of his wife whom they had practically adopted. She was in fact the half-sister of Sirius’ wife Phillipa, and she had noted the possibility of marriage, but it came to nothing. Arcor went away with all kinds of expressions of esteem. He wanted to go back to the place he was born in, “ to make up for something ” . He got there, and the place was all different, and he left it with an accession of disgust.

Arcor was aged 45 at Salamis and was wounded badly in the battle. He was in the galley or boat with Sirius’s family, and Vega as a small child was down below. The family would have been glad if Arcor would have remained, but after Salamis he would go; there was no reason why he should leave, but he would go.

I don’t for the moment see why Arcor is going inland to the mountains . . . Oh ! he heard of some people—avague account of hermits in the mountains—men of great wisdom and power and he determined to go to them. Arcor was rather misanthropic. He had plenty of money and need do no business, but he thought he would devote his life to the hermits. He fitted this into Pythagorean teachings.

Brigands on the way killed him because he would carry all his worldly wealth with him.

In Kama Loka the White Lady as a man (Herakles) came in.

The philosophyjand the Athens life came in the Devachan.I am not sure that it was not the White Lady who tried

to get Arcor and the child to Eleusis to Sirius’ family.[To be continued}

BANNER OF PEACE1Banner of Peace ! we raise Your triune circled spheres,

Out of the world’s bewildered ways To lead the coming years.

Floating on tower and fane Where Truth and Art abide,

Destruction's threat you shall restrain,And turn its rage aside.

But not alone your seal Shall stay the hand of strife:

To searching hearts you shall reveal The way to worthier life.

Truth, Beauty, Righteousness,Wrought out in Unity,

Shall change our deserts of distress To wonderlands to be.

Flag of our faith ! go forth!Affirm to every wind

Beauty’s regenerating worth:The joy of kindled mind :

High deeds that liberate Wisdom and loveliness,

Transforming ignorance and hate Into the will to bless.

Banner of Peace ! march on !Halt not your pilgrimage

Till to the world’s glad warless dawn You lead the coming age !

J ames H. Cousins

1 Read at the dedication of the Roerich Banner of Peace on December 27th, 1931, at the Roerich Museum Hall, New York.

THE OBJECTS OFTHE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

A SYMPOSIUM’

First Speaker: The objects of the Theosophical Society are threefold :

(1J To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour.

f2J To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy and science.

(3) To investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in Man.

If we consider the third object we find it is chiefly personal in its application. For we can begin any line of investigation only from the basis of our own knowledge and experience^ and it is our re-actions to the world around us by which knowledge is gained. An understanding, therefore, of our individual mechanism is necessary to those who are seeking a solution to the problem of existence. The workman needs to become familiar with his tools if he is to be successful in his efforts, and our tools are the powers and capacities we evolve as we go through life. In the degree that we learn to use these tools effectively, will be the measure of our attainment of that third object, which is chiefly a personal one.

1 Wimbledon Lodge, London, December, 1931. First speaker, Miss Helena Sare ; second speaker, Miss Evelyn Clements ; third speaker, Mrs. Stables ; fourth speaker, Mrs. Trenerry.


If we turn to the second object we find it is of a more general character. From the knowledge we have gained of ourselves we now proceed to investigate the systems of philosophy and culture already in the world. No longer confining ourselves to personal experience, we seek in combination with the thought of others to find a synthesis which shall assist us in the understanding of life. The analytical and synthetic qualities of the mind thus come into play in our approach to those subjects which may be said to be general to all.

As to the first object, that of Brotherhood, we find that it is universal in its application, for all things come within its scope; all forms of activity and of thought can find a place therein. There is no need really to make separate and distinct the second and third objects of the Society, for they have their rightful place within the all-embracing range of the first object. I like to think of Brotherhood as a beautiful mosaic picture, each fragment having its own particular quality or colour, and every fragment being necessary to the perfection of the whole. Brotherhood does not imply equality or sameness, but includes the whole* gamut of diversity from the simplest and least evolved to the highest.

Second Speaker : I agree that the third object—to investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man —is more a personal one and so more defined, more limited in its scope, but I do not think it can be included in the first. In my opinion its importance comes first, for it stresses the present, our immediate task, and it is only through the immediate that we can understand the universal. Also I think we must admit that the first object is of the future. We, as a Society, believe in the fact of universal brotherhood ; many other societies and organizations believe in brotherhood, yet we cannot say that we have brought it down into expression in our own affairs, nor do we see it expressed in world

1932 THE OBJECTS OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 55

affairs. There is a striving for it, but very little realization at present.

We have built a civilization on the basis of competitive rivalry, from greed, envy, hatred, desire for riches, pride of power and of domination, so that its foundations are rotten, its core is weak, its heart is cold and feeble, its head is confused and anxious. Unless we can permeate it from top to bottom with the spirit of brotherhood, it will topple over on top of us. It is of very little use trying to alter the system, unless we, at the same time, try to alter ourselves, the units which form the system. This is why I suggest that the third object, and especially that part which refers to man’s latent powers, is of supreme importance. By latent powers, I am not now referring to super-normal powers, powers of clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc., in realms subtler than the physical. Until we are more ready for them, these powers are only a hindrance; I am referring to those powers which give us mastery over our physical environment.

Man is truly a microcosm of the macrocosm, and if we try to get some idea of the universe, of the Absolute in its triple manifestation of Being and Non-Being — Spirit and Matter — and the relation between these, identification with form, and withdrawal or negation, the eternal rhythm of life,, we shall have some idea of the working of our own consciousness. We can set out on a voyage of discovery to our inmost selves, and try to reach the point or centre within ourselves which is unchanging amid a changing world. Everything around us changes, our physical bodies change, our feelings and thoughts change (at least let us hope they do, for change means growth), but through all change there persists that inner self, that “ I am ” consciousness, ever still, complete, the absolute ruler. It is a part of the One Consciousness, and in identification with form, with our acts, feelings, thoughts, thinking “ I am this, I am this,” and sgain in


negation, “ I am not this,” we express our life, continually opening out the forms through which we seek expression. It is, at first, as if we had to push and crawl and creep through a form something like a shut-up box, or a darkened cellar, and ever the outlet grows, evolves, as the life pushes through, and everything we use becomes more spacious, more responsive ; the senses of our physical bodies become subtler, more responsive to the life within, more sensitive to the life w ithout; our feelings become bigger, more intense, alive and v ital; our thoughts become broader, purer, deeper, until our whole house is illumined, is large and spacious and we sweep away the cobwebs, open the windows, and the light of the absolute ruler streams through.

I would like to suggest one way which is very simple of realizing our latent powers. It is by questioning all things; not the analytical, sifting, sorting, arranging, re-arranging method, exchanging one thing, one quality for another, trying to make a pattern, but with the “ why ” of wonder of the child, plus the knowledge and fearlessness of the man. Take pain, for instance, physical pain or emotional pain ; find out what it really is, get right into it, indulge in it for a while, be it, feel the nature and quality of it. We shall find that it will merge into its opposite and disappear; we touch the centre of our consciousness, where the opposites do not affect us, for they do not exist. Or take thought: find out first whether it is really our own thought, if so, test it, find out whether it is true, get into it, really think it—what is this thought ? And so with all experience, with pleasure and happiness it is the same. Only here we do not repress but readily identify ourselves, taking them as our birth-right, for the nature of the self is bliss; here we really want to practise withdrawal, and so realize that pleasure and joy are only truly our own as we share them and use them with others. Let us test all experience with three questions : What is it ? What am I ?


What is the Universe ? In seeking the wonder of it, in holding that thought, we shall touch the One Life.

In this way we shall reach the centre of our consciousness, the point within the circle of our own manifestation, find freedom for that consciousness, freedom within the circle, and so release the powers latent in all of us, which, with dynamic force, will not only change us and our whole outlook, but help to change the world around us, and to build up the civilization which is to rest on the sure and firm foundations of universal brotherhood.

Third Speaker: I agree that the first object is, in its fullest sense, the outcome and culmination of the other two, the universal embracing the general and individual; and that what is of most importance at the present moment in the history of the Theosophical Society is the realization of the Oneness of Life.

I fully appreciate the emphasis laid on the part played by the third object, but, in my opinion, the second is equally necessary and instructive. It inculcates the pursuit of knowledge and the study of the growth of ideas and ideals throughout the ages; it is a record of vast experiences in the past, of what man has discovered with regard to the laws of nature and«f his own being, the state of consciousness to which he has attained, and the steps by which he has come to be what he is.

Throughout the history of mankind we can recognise the great urge of the soul to reach out towards something it has lost, something greater than it can express down here, to the man himself intangible perhaps, yet forcing him to seek until he finds, not knowing what it is he seeks, but nevertheless constraining him to study the laws of the universe and of himself, as portrayed in the many forms and aspects of religion, philosophy and science. By this study he learns how he may unfold and use his own abilities, and understand his relationship to men.

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In religion we can trace the progressive pathway of the soul’s unfoldment from the superstitious fears and rites of primitive races to the magnificent conception of the Divinity and Godhead of man. We find in each religion great Teachers who have embodied its highest ideals, and laid bare for mankind its infinite possibilities shown in many different ways of approach and from many aspects. As the many facets catch and in turn reflect the light, yet are one diamond, so the many religions are but different facets of universal religion.

While this study perhaps represents the emotional outlook, in manifold philosophies we find various methods of search after truth based on a line of approach which is rational and satisfies the mind; in studying them life becomes intelligible, and throughout man steers his course by the light of reason within. The great philosophers of all ages have by this means glimpsed the Archetypal Plan, and imaged it for us in the many systems of philosophy, by the study of which we may reach out to the Universal Mind.

Science in days long past was the outcome of man’s inner development, of self-knowledge, from which point he approached what we now call science, which is the study of physical organisms and developments from the atom to the solar system. The present-day student works from*the physical plane with his physical equipment, but, using the proven facts of the scientists of the past, he is led to seek ever deeper and deeper into the cause of things until he finds himself in the realms of super-physical science, the knowledge of which has long lain in abeyance, and which at present has hardly been touched. In these upper realms he finds at work the same laws which govern physical science; the causes and prototypes of his results are here. Comparing science at the various levels and in the various realms, weaving together his own deductions and the scientific discoveries of the past, he contacts universal science.


These three records of accumulated knowledge and experience are available for our study and research, but to know the facts only is not true knowledge ; we must test and experiment with it ourselves, laying aside for the moment what does not appeal to us. That which has for us a sense of truth finds within us instant response, then it becomes for us a living truth, part of ourselves, part of our daily life, part of our religion, our philosophy, our science of life.

Fourth Speaker : What you have all said seems tom e most interesting, and you seem to have made each of the three objects of equal importance. Personally I cannot help thinking that the time has come when there might be a slight alteration or enlargement of the objects to suit the changing times.

For instance, the first object ru n s : “ to form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity.” But why only humanity ? It seems to me that many of us are getting more and more to understand and to love the animals. Others again are almost childish in their affection for plants. Many of us feel that some kind of co-operation is even possible with the mineral kingdom, and others assert quite definitely that they are already working with angels, fairies and elementals. Why not be bold and alter the first object to read “ to form a nucleus of Universal Brotherhood,” and add “ without distinction of kingdom ” ?

Another point: from time to time we have had splits in the Society, each set of rebels considering themselves thoroughly justified. One of the latest calls itself, “ The Young Theosophists.” But if we are to have a section of young Theosophists, why not one for “ middle-aged Theosophists,” another for “ married Theosophists,” and a fourth for “ aged or infirm Theosophists ” ? A “ wounded soldier ” section would be rather thoughtful; and a nice homely department wherein no one need be afraid and where everyone would


be thoroughly comfortable and at home, could be called “ the charwoman’s section ” ! Friends, I think the time has come when the first object might read : “ to form a nucleus of Universal Brotherhood without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, colour, age or kingdom”

Second Speaker: I am quite at one with the ideas behind your suggestions; we might stretch our object to the high ideal of the Unity of all Life, but I foresee difficulties in practice. Just imagine a Lodge, for instance, composed of humans, animals, vegetables, minerals and fairies, sitting round in a ring. It would have to be, at least, a silent communion, or the humans would get the best of it with their chatter, chatter, chatter. This might certainly be an advantage to the majority of committee meetings, though.

As to age, I do think the distinctions mentioned are all comprehensive as they stand. They represent causes of great cleavages in humanity, making for thick walls of separation, and age does not. There is always a conflict between youth and age, but the link is too strong there, for after all one merges into the other, so even “ Young Theosophists ” will become old some day.

Fourth Speaker-. Very true, but in a human family even the babe in arms is a part of the brotherhood, although he does not know it. Those of mature age form the executive unit, younger ones co-operate as they become able.

In pursuance of this idea, it seems to me that the second object might be altered to advantage. Why study only comparative religion, philosophy and science ? Doubtless in time we shall find it expedient to study comparative art, sociology, language. But the most pressing need of the moment seems to me to be the study of comparative morality. Our prisons are full of those who have a different standard from our own. Directly we disapprove to any great extent, we put the offender in prison and punish


him. Of course, on behalf of society as a whole, it is necessary to restrain those whose conduct menaces its safety, but surely it should be understood that we cannot all have exactly the same standard at the same time,for even the general standard changes, thus showing that morality has comparative values. When the action of anyone is widely different from the general standard, surely he should be educated, trained or coaxed to improve himself a little, but not punished. And so I would like to add comparative morality to our objects of study.

Third Speaker: I agree that the study of comparative art and comparative language 1 is very illuminating and tells us a great deal of the history of past races and civilizations, sometimes being the only record of a long gone, almost forgotten era, and as such of infinite value; but I must say that comparative morality seems to me to be included in religion.

First Speaker-. Well, it seems we all disagree as to which is the most important of the three objects of the Society —but perhaps the truth of the matter is they are all equally important. For when we begin to try to put brotherhood into practice then our difficulties begin. It is quite easy to be brotherly to the person we like and who likes us, but it is quite another matter to be brotherly towards the person we do not like, and whose interests seem to be diametrically opposed to our own. And when we seek to find the reason for this difficulty it is usually because of the absence of that quality of universality implicit in brotherhood. This of course brings us back again to the third object, for if we had succeeded in getting our own personal reactions right there would be no difficulty in being brotherly towards all.

1 [I demur to comparative language. I had four years of it at the university and so can speak with feeling.—C.J.]


So when the third object (the personal one) is accomplished with the aid of the second object (the general one), the first object, that of brotherhood, will just arrive of its own accord. It will appear spontaneously, the outcome of the fulfilment of the other two. Perhaps we might say that the three objects resolve themselves into one object with three aspects ; and that when those three aspects are fulfilled, there will be the beautiful mosaic picture, diverse, many faceted, but built upon the foundation of a triangle, and extending to the circumference of a circle.

PEACE MANTRAM 1

I

Deep Peace is within them, May it shine, let it shine ; Deep Peace is within them, May it shine.

Deep Peace is within them, May it shine, let it shine ; Deep Peace is within them, May it shine.

II

In the deep stillness Of the Eternal Life,Where the One is all And all are One,There is infinite Peace And measureless Power— In the deep stillness.

1 May be repeated individually or in groups with deliberation and earnestness. Added power is noticed when the natural rhythm is observed in a sing-song way. Thought to be directed to the Vice*regal group of governmental power and authority.

EINSTEIN AND THEOSOPHYfA POPULAR EXPOSITION)

By C. HAEGLER

OW and again, as lightning flashes through roofeddarkness, an idea is born, a concept of concepts, and

such an one we might call Evolution. In the dim dawn of time the birth of another may be traced, that of Reincarnation. Now in the 20th century, shall we not add Relativity ? The principle of Relativity, of course, is as old as philosophical thought, for it denies the possibility of measuring absolute time or absolute space.

Some readers may think that Einstein’s Theory of Relativity cannot have much bearing on the study of Theosophy. But Mr. Jinarajadasa once pointed out that there is no better preparation for a clear comprehension of Theosophy, than a broad general knowledge of modern science. Einstein’s theory is certainly very modern, in fact, like all great pioneers, he is far ahead of his time. It must not be forgotten that the scientist’s task is to extend our sense perceptions whilst that of the philosopher is to widen the sphere of thought.

According to Einstein, what we see as straight lines are really curved ones. Suppose we draw on a piece of paper a straight line between two points. To us, the point of the pencil has travelled, say, one foot, but to an observer on the sun, for instance, our pencil will have travelled, not


only with the motion of the hand, but with the sweep of the earth round its axis, and also the much wider curve of the earth’s orbit round the sun itself. This observer (on the sun) would, therefore, see a curved line some forty miles in length. So that the straightness or curvature of a line really depends on our relative position in space.

The same idea holds good for Motion. Take two trains, travelling side by side at different speeds. To the person sitting in the faster train, the slower one will appear to recede from him, it will seem to be moving backwards. All motion is relative. Now Space is also a matter of relativity. There is no such thing as absolutely empty space, for how could we measure it ? Our measures are distances, taken between one body in space and another. These measures depend on our relative position to those other bodies.

Then we come to Time. Has it any reality outside our consciousness ? Mrs. Besant has told us that Time belongs to consciousness, while Space belongs to form. With regard to consciousness, Space has no existence. Consciousness changes its state, not its place, and embraces more or less, knows or does not know that which is not itself. In Early Teachings of the Masters given to A. P. Sinnett, we are told that “ time is something created by ourselves ” : that, while one short-second of intense agony may appear, even on earth, as an Eternity to one man, to another more fortunate, hours, days, and sometimes whole years may seem to flit like one short moment: and that finally, of all the sentient and conscious beings on earth, man is the only animal that takes any cognizance of time, although it makes him neither happier nor wiser. Say the Masters :

Time is not a predicate conception, and can, therefore, neither be proved nor analysed according to the methods of superficial philosophy. Space and Time may be, as Kant has it, not the product, but the regulators of the sensations, but only so far as our sensations on earth are concerned, not those in Devachan.

1932 EINSTEIN AND THEOSOPHY 65

To come back to Einstein, he tells us that on the physical plane, measures create space, so do clocks create time for us. The Masters say it is ive who create time, not the mechanical clocks of man ! Now the interval between two given phenomena will not be the same for every observer. This interval of time will be quite relative, and will depend entirely on where the observer is situated, and the speed at which he is travelling through space.

Size, the apparent dimensions of an object, or the space it occupies, depends on the velocity with which it is travelling through space. Larmor suggests that matter is contracted in the direction of its motion, by an amount which increases as the velocity of these bodies approaches that of light. Einstein also prophesies that a mass of matter, say a pound weight for instance, increases in mass as it travels faster. At the speed of light, its mass is infinitely greater.

Now Einstein says that gravity is not a force, but a property of space itself. He believes that gravity may have more than the one explanation we have all heard of, i.e., attraction of bodies between themselves. Newton taught that gravity, heat, light, magnetism, were not the final causes of the visible phenomena, including planetary motion, but were themselves secondary effects of other causes. Herschel also spoke of the existence of causes that act for us under a veil, disguising their direct action. Newton said that the apple fell because the earth attracted it, but Einstein considers that it falls because our space itself is curved wherever there is matter. The more matter present, the more space is curved, and so it happens that the light from a star just behind the Sun, will come bending round it, and it will appear to be shifted from its true position—how far shifted, Einstein worked out. At the last eclipse, as we have all heard, the stars appeared where he had predicted.

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I have often wondered if it is not here that we have the actual physical basis for the facts of astrology. Light is life, and at the hour of birth, the light from the stars in the various constellations reaches us, after having been knocked about, as it were, by various planetary systems, whose sphere of influence it invades. These spheres of influence must be different for every set of stars [i.e., constellations) so that the horoscope may be an actual reflection, as it were, of the interplay of these various rays or life-forces at the hour of birth. If we could, by some means, photograph these rays, some sort of geometrical pattern would be presented, distinctive of the soul just taking birth on the physical plane. Pythagoras taught that number is the Law of the Universe, and that the Cosmos was produced not through or by numbers, but geometrically, i.e., following the proportions of numbers.

Now we are asked to believe that space is curved, that , all things moving through space move in curved lines, i including light. Einstein’s theory asserts that the actual ! reality, which underlies all manifestations in the physical j universe, is a blend of three factors: Time, Space and Matter.

There is one reality behind this trinity, so that the symbol of the Trinity we hear so much about, is reflected in our everyday life, and science here goes hand in hand with the great Mystics, who assert the Existence of One, Eternal, Infinite, Incognizable Reality, behind the manifested God, unfolding from Unity to Duality, and Duality to Trinity. In metaphysics, we have again a trinity—the self, the not-self and the relationship between them. This interplay showsitself as the ever-changing universe.

The curvature of Space. One of the great difficulties of Einstein’s theory is the assumption that there are no straight lines such as Euclid talks about. Imagine intelligent creatures, existing in two dimensions only, i.e., they have length and breadth, but no thickness, they live on a plane. Their

1932 EINSTEIN AND THEOSOPHY 67

geometry will be like Euclid’s. They will find that space cannot be enclosed by two straight lines, there must be at least three. They will say that a straight line can go on for ever and ever. Now suppose these creatures are transferred to the surface of a sphere. W hat sort of geometry will they construct ? They have no idea that they are on a sphere. They cannot go inside or outside of it, but must remain on the surface. What will they call a straight line ? Always keeping to their surface of the sphere, their straight line, i.e., shortest distance between two points, will be the arc of a circle, from our three dimensional point of view. Now a straight line drawn on the surface of a sphere will go all round the sphere and come back to the point it started from. It cannot go on for ever and ever. And yet, these two-dimensional creatures, using Euclidean geometry, would say that a straight line goes on for ever and ever. But the space these creatures live in is finite space, from our three dimensional point of view. These two-dimensional creatures, moving over the surface of the sphere, are only limited by their two- dimensional consciousness, for there are no boundaries or barriers of any kind.

Theosophy tells us that the phenomenal spirit and matter of any universe are finite in their extent and transitory in their duration, but the roots of spirit and matter are eternal. The root of matter has been said by a profound writer to be visible to the Logos as a veil thrown over the One Existence.

Einstein uses the analogy of creatures, living in two- dimensions on the surface of a sphere, to point out that our space too is finite. A ray of light from a star would go all round the universe and then come back to its starting point. Our space is unbounded, that is, there are no barriers to i t ; we may wander about in it as long as we like, but we cannot get outside of it. When we have wandered far enough through the stars, going quite straight ahead (so it would


appear to us), we shall come back to our starting point. (Consciousness, of course, knows of no such boundaries of space, for its increased expansion admits us into higher and higher realms of space.)

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is probably the most profound and far reaching application of mathematics to the phenomena of the material universe the world has ever known. Although a very complicated theory (and I do not even pretend to understand it), it gives us a far simpler view of the universe than heretofore. It asserts that the actual reality which underlies all the manifestations we experience is neither spatial, temporal, nor material, but a blend of all three, time, space and matter. It is our consciousness which has split up the original unity into three entirely different things. Is not Manas, the Thinker, a blend of the Father (Will), the Son (Wisdom) and the Holy Ghost (Creative Activity), the three aspects of the Logos ? Or as Pythagoras taught in his philosophy : “ The number three reigns everywhere in the universe, the Monad is its principle.”

(To be concluded)

I nformation without understanding is of no value whatever, because only information comprehended is raw material assimilated and spiritualized by man—and comprehension proceeds from within to the outside, not vice versa.

Keyserling in America Set Free

THE HEAT OF LIFEBy E. BENNETT

AS far as we can understand, God’s great plan is concerned mainly with the evolution of that consciousness which

is found unfolding itself within physical bodies. This being so, such bodies are a necessity in the plan, and so are places where they may develop. This being granted, there appears a need for many planets fitted for our homes.

Astronomic research has arrived at a different conclusion.We are told that life like our own is not widely distributed. Only two worlds in our own Solar System may have life. The first need for life is the right heat. Life-forms are built from groups of tiny cells having aqueous interiors and a denser skin. In those fluids life is active—destroyed by approach to boiling point, brought to a standstill by freezing. Life has a

,range between 80 and 96 degrees. Not more than 2 planets can have climates normally within this range.

Absolute zero lies 273 degrees below freezing point. There is no known limit upwards. Temperatures of many millions of degrees are found in the stars. Forms like our own are only developed within a single millionth part of the scale of possible temperatures.

Delicate electrical instruments can measure the heat of stars and planets. These show Mars and this world alone to be fit for life. Yet if physical life is not the function of those other worlds, what can be their use? We know it nott


If these planets are centres of life, they must be specially adjusted for that purpose at their varied distances from the warming Sun. That adjustment, if proved, also proves that there is a great mind behind all creation, Proof of life in other worlds becomes proof of the existence of our Creator. The heat problem assumes a vital importance for this reason: it is hard to find a more important investigation. Careful study of the four small inner planets shows that these are so adjusted that any exchanging of their positions would make life infinitely less probable. Of the three of which our Earth occupies the middle place, Venus, the one nearest, is protected from too great heat by a perfect canopy of cloud, whilst Mars, the more distant one, has so clear a sky that it gets more of the weaker sunlight than our own world’s surface, our sky being more cloudy.

According to scientists, the bigger a planet, the better can it retain a complete atmosphere of gases and water-vapour. Why then has Venus a far denser atmosphere than our Earth being 15 per cent less in weight ? Much smaller Mars has lost so much of its water that its clear sky constitutes no problem.

Mercury, the innermost, receives a heat sufficient to melt lead. It is shown by actual measurement to have a higher heat than anticipated ; this indicates the presence of an atmosphere. Life is impossible there under ordinary planetary conditions, but this world is so small that the Sun has been able to slow down its rate of spin to equality with the time of circuit around the Sun. This makes one side have all the light and the other darkness and cold. The dividing belt is a twilight land having a greater darkening for winter, more light for summer, but never a full lighting. This is the only condition possibly habitable, if there be no guidance in their creation. It is a puzzle that this first planet and Mars, last of the four, should both be smaller than the others, and that both need this smallness to support life conditions.

1932 THE HEAT OF LIFE 71

More complex is the problem of the giant outer planets, too far from the Sun to have much warmth in their sunlight. The measurements show them to be frozen worlds, yet they have every other sign of being hot, only just solidified in parts, islands of solid matter drifting on a still liquid sea of lava, little beyond the glowing stage. There are features of these worlds too permanent to be cloud, yet not fixed as on our continents. Jupiter’s surface is divided into zones with marked difference in their rate of drift. The clouds are far too turbulent to shroud a cold surface, for it is heat which dictates their movements. The material of these worlds is far denser nearer the centre in that it is more kin to the Sun than to the inner planets.

If these great worlds are as hot as lava, they will radiate enough heat to give some one of their many attendant moons a temperature such as we enjoy. In each case, the moon which comes closest to our own world’s size, is the one found at the calculated distance where such heat would be found. Can we ignore this clear indication of intent ? I believe this heat is the reality, while the measurements showing its absence are the illusion. Yet both higher and lower temperatures are shown with great accuracy by the same instruments.

The light and heat in a beam of sunlight can be sorted out by a prism into the different wave-lengths which comprise it, the visible part spreading into a band of coloured light. Beyond this extend invisible waves registering as heat and as chemical effects. The visible spectrum is crossed by many dark lines and bands which represent blanks, missing wavelengths, which have been absorbed by the atmosphere of Sun and Earth as the light passed through these layers. Each element has the power to absorb a set of waves of special lengths, peculiar to itself alone. In the invisible part of the spectrum these bands of absorption grow more frequent, so


that there can be no direct measurement of the heat found there.

At four times the length of the visible octave of light waves, travelling into the infra-red, is found a clear part of the invisible spectrum. From the amount of low intensity heat, which passes through this section of the spectrum, the total amount is estimated. In this section may be found the solution of the problem.

Our atmosphere stops all these waves of low intensity heat save those over the one section. May there not be some element of the giant planet’s atmosphere which cuts off those rays that would pass through ours in that one clear section ? It is already known that there is some element common to this group of planets, and to those alone of the planetary family, which element creates heavy absorption bands in the visible spectrum. May it not also cause the fault in the low temperature readings? It is possible in theory; it is hard to prove, as that element is unknown here.

If there be this interference, these planets can be semi* suns, hot to more than 1200°C. and there will be moons heated to the right degree. This is what we should expect if the principal work of the Logos was the evolution of the various kingdoms leading up to Man. It is the only view which suggests a good use for the other planets.

Proof there is that such life-conditions can exist, and this becomes an indication of the existence of a fore-seeing and all-powerful Mind behind the planetary creation. To-day, scientists view the Universe as a place where life appears as a rare accident: when this error of the planetary temperatures has been proved to exist, it will be viewed as a place where life will be found in every conceivable place, a mighty workshop for the evolution of souls.

STUDY NOTES FOR ATHEOSOPHICAL UNIVERSITY

By G. E. SUTCLIFFE

THE line of study in a Theosophical university need not be a model of existing universities. It should have

distinctive lines of study of its own, otherwise the necessity for its formation is not apparent.

The object of these notes is to lay stress on some possible lines of distinction. One of these may be the following. Up to the present time in existing universities the teaching of physical science has, in general, carried the assumption that the prime movers of the Universe are matter, force and energy, and that life is an accidental excrescence scantily distributed throughout space and time. It is here suggested that a mark of distinction between the Theosophical university and others shall be the postulate that Life is the prime mover, and that other phenomena, such as motion, force, and energy result from it. This distinction has a Theosophical basis.

Support for this fundamental postulate will be found in the Proceedings of the British Association for the year 1931, where General Smuts puts forth the thesis that matter,, life, and mind are three grades of the same thing. This has greatly interested the worlds of science and philosophy, especially as Sir James Jeans in the second edition of his. popular work, The Mysterious Universe^ has concluded that the

10


Universe is the creation of a mathematical Mind. Some comments on the Presidential address will be found in Nature?

One w riter1 2 3 argues that Life is the prime mover in some particular phenomena. Another, W. D. Lighthall,’ argues that the atom is a Life, a truly Theosophical teaching, and observes th a t:

If such a view should find acceptance the notable juncture would occur that the two greatest lines of modern thought—the evolutionary biology of Darwin, and the physics of Newton and Faraday—would find a common meeting-point in the atom.Sir Daniel Hall writing in the Nineteenth Century4 * gives his conclusions as follows:

The one ultimate reality is mind ; the proximate realities of the material world are perceptions; the laws according to which they operate are modes of thought inherent in our minds. These modes of thought are only consistent up to a point because our minds are only fragments of the whole mind ; they are aspects of reality, not reality itself.

From the above, it is evident that “ the world is now ready for Theosophy,” and it were a pity for the Theosophical university not to enter it. Students are probably aware from the popular works of Sir James Jeans and from the Supplement to Nature of October 24th, 1931, that the physical universe has now been explored to its limits,6 but they may not be aware that physicists have achieved this not by laws of physics and mathematics alone, but by these in combination with a law of life. This law of life is given by Jeans 6 and is as follows:

According to the well-known physiological law of Fechner, the effect which any cause produces on our senses is proportional to the logarithm of the cause . . . Our senses do not supply us with a

1 Vol. 128, pp. 906-7, Nov. 28th, 1931 ; see also a letter by Professor Boycott, p. 727.

’ Ibid., p. 907.3 Ibid.4 December, 1931, p. 720.* [This is surely a rash conclusion. It is wiser to remember Newton’s parable of

the pebble on the seashore and the great seas still to be explored.—C. J.]• Astronomy and Cosmogony, p. 30.

1932 STUDY NOTES FOR A THEOSOPHICAL UNIVERSITY 75

direct estimate of the intensity of the phenomenon which is affecting them, but o f its logarithm .

At first sight students may not realize the significance of the above law, and this significance only becomes apparent when coupled with the Theosophical thesis that Life is the prime mover of the Universe, and that all the suns, stars and planets are separate masses each having a life as its prime mover, and each acting on the other in accordance with Fechner’s Law.

If we examine a plan of our solar system in which the distances of the planets are drawn to scale, we shall find that it is not possible to draw the whole solar system to one scale. Two scales are required, one for the nearer planets, and one for the more distant; but if we choose a plan in which the logarithms of the distances are given to scale, we have no difficulty whatever in showing the whole of the solar system to scale on one plan.

In fact, without any difficulty we can construct the whole Universe to scale with the Sun in the centre, and the planets around the Sun to exact logarithmic scale, so that this single plan would show to scale the forces of the Universe operating on the Sun in accordance with Fechner’s Law. Thus the whole Universe becomes as compact as, say, Piccadilly circus, whilst all details are given to scale. On a logarithmic scale, if we represent the diameter of an atom by unity, the diameter of a pea would be 9, the earth’s diameter 18, the sun’s distance 22, the distance of Sirius 28, and the diameter of the Universe 39. Hence in less than 40 logarithmic steps we can pass from the diameter of an atom to the diameter of the Universe. Thus whilst the subjective universe of life, the microcosm, advances in arithmetical progression, or 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc., the objective universe, or macrocosm advances in geometrical progression, or, 101, 10a, 10s, 104, 10®, etc.


This fundamental law operating between subject and object, or between life and form, is extremely important both to science and the Theosophical university. By means of it science has recently probed the Universe to its outermost limits and to its innermost depths ; it gives a common basis on which the orthodox sciences and the occult sciences can meet. It affords an opportunity to the Theosophical university to win its spurs, and compel recognition from the world and its brother universities. Although men of science use the law, and are surprised to find it gives true results, they have not yet realized its universal importance. Only students of The Secret Doctrine and kindred works can realize that.

Let us consider this law in connection with an unsolved problem of science, say the cause of the sunspot period. Many scientific men are convinced that this is due in some way or other to the planets, but although they have sought for the true connection for more than a century they have failed to find it. We can now see why they have failed. They have used the astronomical masses and distances and applied Newton’s Law. In other words, they have applied the law operating between object and object, and not the law operating between object and subject. Let students of the Theosophical university take up the investigations and apply the law between object and subject. If they achieve, they will at once gain honour and recognition, both for themselves and the university.

They must regard the Sun as a Life, and the spots as due to subjective changes in the solar life. These subjective changes they should regard as responding not to the masses, distances and varying positions of the planets, but to the logarithms of these; the formula is given by Jeans1 and is a very simple one.

1 Astronomy and Cosmogony, p. 32.

1932 STUDY NOTES FOR A THEOSOPHICAL UNIVERSITY 77

Another group of students might investigate in the same way, the problem of terrestrial weather changes ; this problem has made little progress although the best minds have been applied to it. It is regarded as the despair of modern investigations, and a solution would be acclaimed as the greatest achievement of the age. There are very big prizes awaiting alert; students in the Theosophical university.

BEAUTY

I SOUGHT for beauty, in a face,A human form, a human love,Yet never sought for beauty’s trace

In aught above.

I sought for it in things without,I made of earthly beauty God,Till beauty made for me a knout,

A scourging rod.

I sang its praise in pseans wild,To passion's note I tuned my lyre,I scorned true love—'twas far too mild

To feed my fire.

I sank myself in seas of sin,In idle pride, in folly vain,Yet far it fled me, till within

I sought, in pain.With anguish sore and aching heart I strove to feel that burning Breath Beneath the blinding woe, the smart

Of life—and death.When lo, within a little flower In every human heart hid deep,I found the ever-living Power

That there doth sleep.M. Bright

TH E SUFI’S QUEST FOR GOD

By LILARAN PREMCHAND

MAULANA RUMI, the prince of Sufi poets, and one of the greatest of seers and saints, opens his marvellous

poem, Masnavi, with the wailing of the reed-pen :Bishnau az nai chan hikiyat me kunad Waz judahll shiknyat m§ kunadHear from the reed-pen, what a tale it tells In separation moans, in sorrow melts.

The plaintive note, the poet says, that issues from the reed flute is due to its separation from the reed-bed—its original home.

In these lines is represented the longing of the soul to be re-united with God, its original home. Everywhere, whether in the East or in the West, we find this deeply rooted thirst of man for God. Dr. Besant compares this seeking of man for God to the effort of water ever to regain its own level.

As water ever seeks to rise to the level whence it falls, so does the human spirit ever seek to rise to the divinity whence he came.

Philosophy is, properly speaking, home sickness; the wish to be everywhere at home . . .

The Sufi’s desire for union being strong, and his spirit daring, he sets out on his quest to discover the beloved, and after years of toil and trouble, of trials and

791932 THE SUFI’S QUEST FOR GOD

tribulations, finds Him. W here indeed ? Listen to Maulana

Rumi:

I measured intently—I pondered with heed,(But ah, fruitless my labour!) the Cross and the Creed.

To the Pagod I rushed and the Magian's shrine ;But my eye caught no glimpse of a glory divine !

The reins of research to the Kaaba I bent,Whither, hopefully thronging, young and old went.

Kandhar and Hirat searched I wistfully through ;Nor above, nor beneath came the loved one to view.

I toiled to the summit, wild, pathless and lone,Of the globe-girding Kaf—but the Anka had flown !

The seventh earth I traversed—the seventh heaven explored, But in neither discerned I the court of the Lord.

My glance I bent inward ; within my own breast,Lo, the vainly sought elsewhere! the Godhead confessed.1

Dr. Besant says the sam e:

Do not go in search of Him to the scientist, for he can only tell you that there is law in nature, which never alters. Do not go to the theologian, for he will give you arguments, while you want conviction. Do not go to the artist, for though he may take you a little nearer, he can only tell you of the beauty which is God’s, and that is not all. Do not go to the philosopher, for he can only give you abstractions. Go then within, and not without, plunge fearlessly into the depths of your own being; seek in the cavity of your own heart the hidden mystery, and there, and there only, you will find Him.

“ Within you,” yes! But then, what makes the union

so very difficult? W hat is it that divides? The idea of one’s

own self, the personality, is the greatest barrier between the

seeker and the beloved. There must be total cessation of the self, complete freedom from egoism, before the union is possible. “ Be simple and wholly bereft of self.”

Shah Abdul Latif, the greatest poet of Sind says: “ Khudi and Khuda” i.e., “ I-ness and God ” cannot be contained in

the heart, just as there is no room for two swords in one and the same scabbard. This idea is very well illustrated in the following story of Maulana Rumi, which, though oft quoted,

bears repetition.

1 Translation by Prof. F. Falconer.


One knocks at the door of the beloved and from within comes the voice, “ Who is at the door? ” “ It is I,” says the lover. “ This house cannot hold me and thee,” came the reply. The disconsolate lover goes back into the desert, and after a year’s fasting and prayer returns to the door once more, and in reply to the voice from within, “ Who is there ? ” says: “ It is thou.” The door opens and the lover and the beloved are united.

The poet says :Khfish. rfi sfifi kun az ausfif i khud Tfi bi blrii zfit i t>fike slfi khud

From the attribute of self be free, so that you may see your own pure essence.

Selfishness being the cause of all sin and suffering, the Sufi practises love ; for love, even towards an earthly object, if whole-hearted, eradicates all sense of the self. The key to the return of the Sufi to his original home, and his merging once more into the Divine is love, which makes the mind free from all earthly desires and purified from all passions. “ Love is the sovereign alchemy, transmuting the base metal of humanity into the divine gold.” Love, the Sufi believes, is the sole remedy of all life’s ills and sorrows. Having sought God and found Him within, he sees that the whole creation is the output of the All-Beautiful, and he sees Him everywhere.

Jamlle oost har jfi jalvah kardah.His beauty everywhere doth show itself.

He then sees, in the words of Dr. Besant, the Hidden Life vibrant in every atom, and the Hidden Light shining in every creature.

Yak zarrah nadidam ba filam ki darfin Khurshed i rukh i tura na didam ayfin.Not one atom in the world did I see.In which was not your splendour seen by me.

1032 THE SU F l’S QUEST FOR GOD 81

With the idea of the immanence of God is, of course, linked inevitably the idea of the solidarity or brotherhood of all living beings. Hence the Sufi’s conception of love includes universal charity. The easiest way to reach divinity according to him is through the brother-man.

Rshe bisytir ast mardum ra be kurbe hak vale Riihe nizdlkash dile mardum ba dost Uvurdan ast.Many a road to Godhead has been Of them the easiest—men’s hearts to win.Sad khitnai a&ar ba taat iibad kuril bih azQn nist ki khatare shad kurii.Hundred houses with devotion you may fill,To gladden a single heart is better still.

The following is in the same strain :Az hazaran kaab yak dil bihtar ast,Dil badast Gvur ki haje akbar ast.What matters if to Mecca a thousand times you go,The greatest pilgrim he, who to man does kindness show.

According io Hafiz, “ the art of being kind ” contributesto the happiness of both the worlds.

AsOyashe du Sltl tafslr in du harf ast Ba dastin talatuf ba dushmanQn madurOThe merit of two worlds in two words doth lie,To love the friends, no enemies to vilify.

The Sufi, like the Tbeosophist, extends tolerance to a ll ;he is called La-Kufi (without any particular creed), and, likehim, believes that the source of all religions is one and the same.

Teh subh adyano milal hai shakhahae yak darkht Ek jarah sen hai nikle daliyan sabh phut phut.All these religions and creeds are branches of one tree,From one root have sprouted forth different branches.

Therefore says h e :Khahi ba kaabd rU kun khahi ba Sumnat Az ikhtalaf i rah chi Sham rahnama yaklst.Whether you turn your face to Kaaba, or towards Somnath, What matters the contrary roads, when the director of the

way is the same.11


Maulana Rumi’s story of Moses and the shepherd is a very good lesson in tolerance. Moses once vehemently scolded a shepherd for worshipping God in his crude and childlike manner, so that the poor man gave up uttering the name of God altogether. Thereupon a voice from above came to Moses, saying :

Why did you separate my creature from me ? You have been sent out to bring about union, not separation.The Sufi poets, now and again, point out what has been very well expressed by Pope in the following:

For forms of faith, let graceless zealots fight,His can’t be wrong whose life is in the right.

The Sufi, believing that the fundamental truths of all religions are the same, is against converting people from one faith to another ; he recommends comparative study of religions, for that is likely to remove all religious antagonisms. He says:

Hamchu parkarim yak pa dar shariyat ustavUr Pai digar sair haftad du milat mlkunad.

We are like a pair of compasses, with one foot firm in our own faith, and with the other we traverse through seventy-two sects.

To sum u p : the Sufi says that man is an ever-living essence of intelligence, but by identifying himself with thebody, he has lost his real self.

Anch m3 kardim ba khud, hich nablna nakard,Dar miane khana gum kardim sahib i khana r3.

What we have done with ourselves, no blind man has ever done, for in our own house have we lost the master of the house.

Man can know his real self by controlling nature, external and internal, by giving up and separating himself from the lower nature that is present in him. By contemplating the real Self, one can be free from the bondage of matter and hence free from all pain and misery. Every one has therefore to identify himself with the Divinity within and work through the body for the benefit of the world.

THE MAGIC OF GREAT CATHEDRALS

By the Rev. HAROLD MORTON

r p'HE Cathedral in Sydney had always seemed to me saturated-» with devotion, but the charm of St. Mary’s 1 was tenfold

more when I stood for the first time in the western porchway and looked down the full length to the High Altar. The golden sunlight streaming through the high clerestory windows, the long shadows of the splendid columns, and the flickering candle light, all combined to draw the thought

' from the harsh strident call of the material world to the world of light of which this is the dark shadow. I thought of St. Mary’s humble beginnings and now of this vast structure. How Australia has been enriched by its erection ! I felt its magic sweeping through my veins. As T. E. Brown said of gardens, so would I contend that the very beauty of this edifice eloquently testifies to the ever-living God.

A garden is a lovesome thing, God w ot!Rose plot,Fringed pool,Ferned grot—The veriest school Of peace ; and yet the fool Contends that God is not.Not God ! in gardens ! when the eve is cool ?Nay, but I have a sign ;T is very sure God walks in mine.

’Tis very sure God moves in spirit through the Cathedral,The Roman Catholic Cathedral in Sydney.


A Gothic cathedral is essentially dynamic. It is more like a gigantic engine working at full speed, more like an athlete straining every muscle in a great race, more like flames rushing skywards in a forest fire, than a building which has position but no movement. No doubt thousands of people have gone, and still continue going to services in the great Gothic cathedrals with eyes fast closed. In the presence of a masterpiece where artists have toiled and wrought for God, some prosaically go to sleep. Human nature is like that. I pass backwards and forwards over the loveliest harbour in the world, an ever changing picture of beauty confronts me. I read a book, my fellow passengers have their heads buried in the morning paper, or hide themselves in a cloud of tobacco smoke. We pass heedless of Nature’s offerings and so too do we ignore great human work.

Yet no one can be entirely unaffected by the spell of art, whether it be a Raphael Madonna or a hideous tortured form so favoured by some of the moderns. A couple of years ago London was stunned by the sculpture of “ Dawn ” . “ Howdare any man produce such a monstrosity and call it art ? ” cried the outraged public fulminating against this so-called abomination. “ It is ugly, brutal and grotesque,” shouted others. The image had a magic which chilled. It was a stab at all recognized beauty and culture. No man could look at that work and remain unmoved, and for good or ill it burnt itself into the very soul.

How different is the influence of the immortal Passion Play. A friend of mine went to its last production, somewhat grudging the time it took from her European holiday. The hope of a race longing for a Saviour, the rage with which He was greeted, the Hero’s Passion facing the day of glorious death, the tender scenes of the Virgin—could anyone remain unmoved as these scenes rolled by ? To this member of the audience the story might have been written in words of fire,

1932 THE MAGIC OF GREAT CATHEDRALS 85

for by a subtle mystery of art the experience was transferred to her. She was the actor, she the sufferer, she the triumphant spirit above defeat.

The magic of a great cathedral is tremendously potent. One cathedral lover says he sees every such building as “ the stretching out of human hands for things divine ” . Leaving all theological ideas out of consideration, a Gothic church is a mnemonic of progressive life. As an expression of the Christian life, it is superb. It points to a goal. Its message is “ Upwards and Onwards ” ! Raised up to pierce the heavens, the very stones, seem to cry out with praise and aspiration. They tell the story of man’s ascent.

The perpendicular age in Gothic architecture is especially significant. We reach a time when every slender shaft of uprushing power expends its energy, and like a rocket which soars skywards and bursts, throwing down a shower of stars, so does the Gothic force expend itself and come downwards again. Some students see in this the decadence of the Gothic spirit, ascribing to one of the great plagues the loss of the former knowledge of Church building. To others it is the proof of its success. For the perpendicular age in Gothic architecture, when the arches are lower and the lines spread out, is an excellent symbol of man having attained, and returning to the earth which bore him. Great souls may battle to the summit of the Mount, may stand there transfigured with heaven’s gates wide open for their en try ; but they come down again and endure a greater glory than Transfiguration in the depths of Crucifixion. So with this style of architecture. It has come down from the Mount. But it is glorious and radiant as it tells truly of Transfiguration.

Whoever then is seeking in life around him stimulus to creative action, will find it without doubt in these great structures. I contend that no one can enter a Gothic Church without some stream of magic coursing through him, a thrill


which shakes him into awareness of a larger life. While it does this for every individual in some measure, it can be a revelation of deep mysteries to any who will enter into it already prepared to read the symbol and share the life. What we owe to the architects who captured this design from the archetypal world, who can say ? But we can affirm that to-day, as then, we too feel and succumb most willingly to the magic of great cathedrals.

BELLS

The God who made denial Has made fulfilment too,

And failure falls for trialOf what success should do.

I heard church-bells one morning In answer to my need,

And half their song was warning, And half was just “ God-speed

And now I know disaster,And shames beyond recall,

And hopes that wither faster Than any flower at all—

But still the bells are chiming Their message to my mind:

“ Are hills too high for climbing ? Are seas too far to find ? "

Gerald Gould

PUNCH 1

By F. H. ALDHOUSE

HERE are few professions that have more ups andA downs than a farmer’s. A few day’s steady rain may

ruin crops. An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease—thegerms of which were carried to your cattle by a hare, andwhich no precautions or foresight could have prevented—may wipe out your livestock. Farmers need steadynerves and clear minds. I am pretty successful in mybusiness, and am generally credited with both those qualities.I am a married man with two boys, the eldest of whom issixteen. I am forty years of age. As I am engaged inmixed farming, I raise both crops and livestock and haveto be a good bargainer, as well as a judge of lands and beasts.

Next to my wife and lads my best friend was a dogcalled “ Punch ”. He has never varied in his affections.When I was nearly ruined just before the War, and myneighbours, who knew of what the weather had done to me,were buttoning up their pockets for fear I might try toborrow from them, Punch was just the same ; though bysome uncanny power he knew I was in a state of deepdepression. He came one night when I thought all waslost, and laying his head on my knee, looked up in my facewith nearly human eyes, full of sorrow and affection for me.When prices rose later and my affairs were booming, he was

1 This story, told by Mr. M----- of Co. Mayo, Ireland, gentleman-farmer, anexceptionally hard-headed and efficient man of business, an Anglican Church-warden, sober and discreet, is stated in his own words.


still the sympathetic friend, and frisked and barked his joy that I was happy. Human beings are seldom as reliable, but one of the tragedies of those who love dogs is the comparatively short lives of their pets, and Punch at seventeen was manifestly failing.

I was called suddenly to Dublin by the death of a relative, and before going sent for the Vet., for though I knew he could not cure old age I still hoped Punch might be helped to live comfortably for a little longer. I hated to part with one who was tried, and true and loving. The veterinary was late and I had to leave to catch the train in a hurry. I had only reached Dublin when I was laid up with a bad attack of “ flu,” which made me for a while very ill indeed. After settling my Uncle’s affairs it was three weeks before I returned home. As I got out at C. station, Derrin the eldest of my boys, was waiting in my trusty Ford to drive me home.

“ You do look pulled down, Dad,” he remarked.“ Aye ! I’m hoping there will be nothing to worry me at

home, Derrin,” I answered, “ the least thing since I took that sickness keeps me from sleeping. Is everything all right, did anything die ? ”

“ All is quite right, Dad, and nothing died,” the boy answered.

I thought he put rather an emphasis on died, but as he began to tell me the excellent price we had obtained for some bullock that had been sold at Ballina, the subject dropped. When we came to our gate, I got out of the car and telling Derrin to drive over for old Mr. Morrisy, who had written he wished to buy a ram from me and whom I had promised to send for as soon as I returned, I walked up our long avenue. What was this coming bounding to meet me ? Why thanks be to goodness, it was my Punch himself, but so transformed and rejuvenated that I hardly knew him.

1932 PUNCH 89

“ Well, me sporting fella’,” I called to him, “ I’m more pleased to see you so gay and bold, than if I had a fist full of sovereigns. But don’t jump on me, there’s a good dog, the mud is very sticky. That Vet. shall get all my custom in future. He must be a living, walking wonder to make a new dog out of an old one ! ”

Punch looked up in my face, he grinned at me, he wagged his whole body, but in all his excitement and happiness he obeyed my command and did not fawn on me. For an eighth of a mile he ran with me showing the utmost happiness in our re-union, but when we came near the door of my house, rather to my surprise, he wheeled off and ran into a small plantation on the right. He gave me such a wistful, human look of affection and he was gone. My wife and Dessy, my other lad, gave me a warm welcome, and finding that all was well, I sat down to lunch with a light heart. The arrival of old Mr. Morissy and Derrin turned the whole conversation on to rams, till I had effected the sale and the old man had departed again.

“ By the way, Honoria,” I said to the missis, “ the thing that pleased me most on my return was not hearing what we got for the bullocks, good as it was, or selling that tup to old Morissy at the price he gave, but to see my poor old friend Punch so wonderfully improved. I must make that Vet.’s acquaintance. I want to know what he gave him. I wonder, did he do some gland-grafting on him, as Voronoff does, the foreign surgeon who goes in for giving his patients renewed youth ? I call it a miracle whatever it was.”

The evening was falling, but I thought I saw an expression of uneasiness pass over my wife’s face.

“ Yes, Dermot,” she answered, “ so you saw Punch? Where ? and when ? ” I told her and she began to crossquestion me about my health.

12


“ Do you sleep well, dear ? Have you found the illness has affected your sight at all ? Have you strange dreams ? ” I was quite annoyed.

“ I don’t know what you are driving at, Honoria, one would think you imagined I was getting deranged ! I wish the doctor could make me as young and bouncing as Punch, but I’m getting better, though slower than he did.”

My wife said no more and I went out to see how things were going on the farm. When I came into tea I found Dr. Parr was with my wife, he took his tea and after it wasover he said : “ This is not a professional visit, Mr. M----- but asa friend I’d just like to see if that Dublin physician set you all right before I go back home.”

I let him examine me, and then he began to cross, question me just as Honoria had done about dreams, sight, etc. “ The wife must have coached you, doctor,” I said, “ did she tell you I was getting demented ? ”

“ Certainly not, Mr. M----- ,” replied Dr. Parr, “ and I’mglad to say that though pulled down by your recent bout of “ flu,” I find you generally quite normal. But I want to tell you something. You say you saw Punch in broad daylight, that he did not touch you, but ran about you and went into the plantation. Well, the day you left for Dublin, before the Vet. came, he took a fit and I shot him with my own hands—as your boys had not the heart to do so. I called in to see the herd’s wife, who has had a baby you know, that’s how I came to be here. Punch was buried in the plantation you say he went into now. I got your family not to write to you about it, knowing the kind of illness you had, and I warned Derrin not to give you bad news when you came. Influenza often causes serious depression. 1 wanted you to have a rest before you heard what happened to your old friend. It must have been just a very vivid memory of your dog, and the remains of the illness that produced the

1932 PUNCH 91

delusion—a mere temporary optical error. I have come upon similar cases before, though not so distinct as your vision.”

I thanked the doctor and I did not argue with him, for good and sufficient reasons. But after five years I wish to say that I was as clear, as I am this minute, and that I am as sure as I see you this minute, that dear, faithful, old Punch could not go to wherever the true and loving do go, without wishing me a last farewell.

TO THE FAIRIES

The waters are the undines’ home,In fire the salamanders dwell,The earth is haunted by the gnome,The winds obey the sylph’s sweet spell.

Oh ! kindred spirits you are near, Though hiding from our selfish sight, Our life is very drab and drear,Show us your world of love and light.

Your hands the clouds of evening dye, You shape the blossom as it grows,You in the gentle zephyrs fly,You are the perfume of the rose.

The dreams of childhood you make gay, The baby laughs when you appear,You play, wherever children play; Yours the sweet whisper in lovers’ ear.

The elements which are your home, Filled by your vital presence, live,Give us your joyance when you come, Your own immortal laughter give.

F. H. A.

GOETHE’S FAUSTBy c. jin a r AjadAsa

His year all over the world men will celebrate the 100thAnniversary of the death of Johann Wolfgang von

Goethe. Many a discourse will be delivered describing the aspects of his personality and his creations. For he was, to the modern world, the first world-citizen. He took for his field of enthusiasm the cultures of all peoples, while not ceasing to be all that was best in German culture. Such a unique combination of poet, artist, dramatist, scientist and philosopher is indeed rare, and therefore men of all types find a profound interest in all that Goethe produced.

Among all his many works there is one which is preeminent for its philosophical message as to Life’s purposes. This is his great work “ Faust ”. From the day it was published, it has focussed the attention of all philosophical and artistic thinkers. Unfortunately most people know of Faust only by its first part, out of which a French opera was made by Gounod. Never did a great work suffer in its world-wide message for all mankind as did Goethe’s Faust, when out of its magnificence a sordid drama of love was extracted and presented to the world as Goethe’s Faust.

The sole reason for writing this brief essay on Faust is that in it Goethe discovered, to my mind, one of the greatest principles of the Occult life. Curiously enough, he himself did not consciously know what was the moral or message which Faust was intended to give. Long years afterwards he said about i t : “ People come and ask, what idea I have embodied in my Faust ? As if I knew myself, and could express i t ! From Heaven,

1932 GOETHE’S FAUST 9$

across the World to H ell1—that might answer, if need were r but it is not an idea, only the course of the action.” This is characteristic of all great works, for each author, under the impetus of creation, contacts a higher world which he can reveal, but whose significance he does not necessarily understand.

The form in which Faust is written is both attractive and repellant. It is the former for its most beautiful poetry, which naturally in German has an artistic intensity which cannot be reproduced in any translation. The work is like a casket of jewels of all sizes and colours; but at times there are too many of them, and it is a little difficult to see the beauty of them all because the loveliness of their setting has been obscured by the plethora of jewels. One hardly knows where is the thread of the story as events move from the natural world into the fantastic, from that of fact to that of the imagination..

The drama covers such a vast theatre of events, particularly in its second part, that the reader’s attention gets confused and tired quickly. But it is just this vast congeries of events that is fascinating to the Theosophist, because there we find the method which the genius of Goethe found to survey a man’s life as it would be lived in several incarnations. Goethe of course knew of the theory of Reincarnation but it did not appeal to him, except once when his profound attachment to Frau von Stein made him think that the only explanation for their mutual understanding was that he and she must have known each other intimately in a previous life.

The commentators and exponents of Goethe’s Faust hitherto naturally see all the events of the great drama as occurring in the course of one lifetime, that of the hero Faust. But a careful observer of human nature will see quickly that the psychological transformation of the principal character in the drama is very unlikely to have taken place in one lifetime. Whereas if we presume that the different

1 A line in the Prologue.


episodes are as a series of separate lives, we see a natural sequence in the character transformation following upon events. I do not mean at all to say that Goethe ever had such a conception, but I think that with such a conception of Faust, as the history of the several lives of one individual, we shall see its philosophical message more clearly.

The great problem opens, as in Job, with a Prologue. The Lord surrounded by His angels is in Heaven. The heavenly hosts, Raphael, Michael and other angels hymn the glory of God and His works. Mephistopheles is among them. He is the “ fallen angel,” and is now permanently the critic of God. His presence in Heaven is inexplicable on the orthodox Christian idea of the “ devil,” but is understandable in the light of the conception of the Mysteries that “ evil is the dark side of good Yama, the King of death, in Hinduism is not the King of terrors but a kindly God, nor is Mara the tempter in Buddhism depicted as a terrible and evil entity, though his business is to put barriers in the way of the aspirant. Mephis-

♦ topheles explains his function in the cosmic scheme as follows:I am the spirit that evermore denies,And rightly so—for all that doth arise Deserves to perish—this, distinctly seeing—No! say I, No ! to everything that tries To bubble into being.My proper element is what you name Sin, Dissolution,—in a word, the Bad.

Mephistopheles remarks drily, in contrast to the praise ofthe angels, that all that he has observed regarding God’shandiwork, Man, on whom the Lord has bestowed Reason todistinguish him from the animals, is that “ thence his powersincreased to be far beastlier than any beast ” . His criticismof God’s work is th a t:

Of suns and worlds I’ve nothing to be quoted;How men tormented themselves, is all I’ve noted.

The Lord then mentions Faust, His “ servant ” . All Mephistopheles notes is that Faust is tormenting himself with a search

1932 GOETHE’S FAUST 95

for something. The Lord replies, in four lines of Goethewhich are famous in European literature:

Though still confused his service unto Me,I soon shall lead him to a clearer morning.Sees not the gardener, even while he buds1 his tree,Both flower and fruit the future years adorning ?

Finally, the Lord gives Mephistopheles the chance, as in Job, to tempt Faust away from his final goal, with the sole proviso that Faust must not be killed. The Lord does not mind that Faust should blunder; it is a part of His scheme, and so He says:

While Manbs desires and aspirations stir,He cannot choose but err.

And the Lord mentions that the evil or the restless part in man is necessary, as a counterpoise to the natural Tamas or sloth which is inseparable from human nature :

Man’s active nature, flagging, seeks too soon the level; Unqualified repose he learns to crave ;Whence, willingly, the comrade him I gave,Who works, excites, and must create, as Devil.

The drama proper now opens, with Faust as an old man. From youth to old age he has sought satisfaction, or “ realization,” as the mystics would say, in knowledge. Truth that seemed, at the beginning of his search, so near, evermore recedes, and disappointments and disillusions are found on all sides. Faust determines on suicide. But as he lifts the goblet to drink the poison, Providence intervenes, according to the plan made. Memories of childhood’s happinesses are evoked, and Faust determines to live.

Here we can well presume that one incarnation of Faust ends. For, the next part of the drama introduces Mephistopheles to Faust, and by drinking a draught which the former gives, Faust the old man is transformed to what he was in his days of early manhood.

[To be continued}1 Prunes, cutting off shoots and branches, an apparent injury to the tree, but

which his science shows is necessary for the tree’s real growth.

POINT LOMA’S OFFER TO ADYAR

i

The Theosophical Society,

International Headquarters,

Point Loma, California,

January 25, 1932,

D r . Annie Besant,

President, The Theosophical Society,

Adyar, Madras, India.

My dear Dr. Besant,I am writing to you by request of our Leader, Dr. de

Purucker, and also on behalf of all the members of our Headquarters’ Staff here at Point Loma, to express to you the concern that we have felt in regard to the reports of your health ; and also the pleasure at the most recent report that you were better, and were able again to attend and to speak at meetings of the Society at Adyar.

We feel indeed that there is still work for you to do, and it is our hope that this improvement of your health may continue.

We have felt much concern also over the general unsettled condition in India; and indeed, while we hope that

1932 POINT LOMA’S OFFER TO ADYAR 97

a peaceful solution may be found, and that there may be no resorting to violence, still all this is in the balance. We know the deep interest that you have in India, and that the present time must be quite an anxious one for you.

It is our hope, as just said, that there may be no outbreak of violence which may sweep over the whole country, but if this should be imminent, and the political conditions in India should become so unsettled as to make it impossible or inadvisable for your Headquarters at Adyar to continue to carry on its work, we here—and I write, as said above, on behalf of our Chief, Dr. de Purucker, and the Headquarters* Staff—would be glad to offer you personally a peaceful and more central home for your activities, here at Point Loma. Furthermore, in the event that the General Council of the Adyar Society might deem it advisable, on account of conditions in India, to remove your Theosophical Headquarters from India, and if they would agree to transfer your Headquarters’ activities here also to Point Loma, we would be most happy to offer to your General Council two hundred acres of our present estate of some three hundred and thirty acres at a very modest price.

We hope, of course, as said above, that a peaceful solution may be found for the difficulties which at the present time are so acute in India, and indeed all over the world; but in case of serious eventualities that may make a change appear inevitable, we should be very happy to have you yourself personally, and also the General Council of the Society, give consideration to this letter.

Indeed, dear Dr. Besant, in this connexion I am stronglyreminded of something that I heard several years ago; namely,that on more than one occasion you yourself had saidsomething to the effect that you looked forward tothe time when our Point Loma Headquarters and

13


your own work would be closely associated. The remarkable thing about this, my dear Dr. Besant, is that Katherine Tingley many times during past years stated that it was her conviction that Point Loma—not necessarily our own Headquarters—would some day likewise be the seat of your Society, as well as our own. Truly would not this contiguity or juxtaposition of the two Headquarters, if it can be brought about, be one of the noblest efforts towards unification of the two main bodies in the Theosophical Movement ?

With fraternal and affectionate greetings,Most sincerely yours,

J oseph H. F ussell,Secretary- General.

II

The Theosophical Society,

Vice-President's Office,

Adyar, Madras, India,

March 7, 1932.

D r. J oseph H. F ussell,

Secretary-General, The Theosophical Society,

Point Loma, California.

Dear Doctor,I have pleasure in acknowledging your most fraternal

communication of January 25th, addressed to the President, Dr. Annie Besant.

1932 POINT LOMA’S OFFER TO ADYAR 99

It has been many months since Dr. Besant has been able to attend to business of any character except at rare intervals, and then only for a few minutes when she appeared to be least in a state of fatigue. Even her correspondence has had to be answered by others authorized to do so. Hence the present reply by myself to your letter.

I am sure Dr. Besant would wish me to express her sincere appreciation to Dr. de Purucker and all the members of your Headquarters’ Staff at Point Loma for their sympathetic feelings of concern in regard to the reports of her health. At the same time we, her co-workers here, regret we cannot confirm “ the most recent report ” that she is “ able again to attend and to speak at meetings of the Society at Adyar,’* although one incident of the most unexpected nature occurring at the late Convention, as published in The THEOSOPHIST, does tend to give coloring to that view. Since then she has kept closely to her room, save for an occasional drive.

The concern you feel “ over the general unsettled condition in India ” is no doubt being felt by all the friends of India throughout the world. But to us here on the spot, so to say, the outlook does not seem so very dark. There are no signs to me of anything akin to such an upheaval in the country as will put the life of the ordinary citizen in jeopardy. Moreover, The Theosophical Society has from the beginning eschewed all politics as a Society, and we here do not see any danger at all to its routine activities.

Nevertheless your thoughtful and generous offer to provide our Headquarters with asylum in case of trouble is met with a hearty and understanding appreciation. Moreover your willingness to sell to us a portion of your beautiful estate at Point Loma in the unlikely event that conditions in India should become permanently forbidding, is deemed here to be a gesture of great brotherliness such as our Foundress, H. P. B., would have rejoiced to see expressed by any of


her faithful followers. That our membership may be informed of all this, we shall take the liberty of publishing both your letter and this my reply in an early number of The Theosophist.

But, as to Adyar, there is to my mind no more favored spot in all the world for the headquarters of a spiritual society. It was to Adyar that H. P. B. and Colonel Olcott were sent by the Masters to found the centre for Their outer use. It is Adyar that bears the powerful imprint of Their sacred influence. It is Adyar that is near to Them, geographically considered, and to that august spiritual capitol of the world, Shamballa, whose primary channel oi influence it long since came to be.

And it is India, Adyar’s home, that embodies the most uplifting and dynamically spiritual atmosphere of any land ; for it is here that great Rishis, Avatars, Buddhas, Masters and Adepts, have lived and labored as nowhere else, and the power They exerted and impressed upon this land can never be erased, even by the distracted conditions that have existed on lower planes during centuries of decadence, and from which, like another Phoenix, India is rising once more to take the lead in the world’s spiritual regeneration.

With fraternal greetings to all, I am,Most sincerely yours,

A. P. Warrington,Vice-President.

LOVE TH A T LIV ES1

By LEO FRENCH

In our time men understand love as a common, every-day manner of life . . .but all idea of the cosmical content of love is atrophied in them . . . Perhaps loveis a world of strange spirits who . . . take up their abode in men, subduing themto themselves, making them tools for the accorrplishment of their inscrutable purposes . . . an alchemical work of some Great Master wherein the souls and bodies of men play the role of elements out of which is compounded ** a philosopher’s stone or an elixir of life P. D. Ouspensky.2

“ All on paper ? ”Yes. Four hundred and sixty odd pages filled with lines, on, and

between which, so much is written of “ glory, beauty, truth, knowledge, virtue and abiding love ”—to quote the quintessence of Shavianism from the preface. In that preface the personality of the writer stands revealed for him who runs psychologically, to read. With that we have no concern, here, at any rate ; but with the individuality of G. B. S., le vrai homme, as all good (or bad) Theo- sophists must believe; we are concerned with Ellen Terry’s, and rightly, as befits two great individuals who were used by Anteros (assuredly not by his younger brother) to produce a series of unique, inimitable Love-Letters, the capitals used advisedly. Some idea of the gamut can be imagined by the two following quotations:

Tell Elly that the two things that worthless people sacrifice everything for are happiness and freedom, and that punishment is that they get both, only to find that they have no capacity for the happiness and no use for the freedom . . . Tell her togo and seek activity, struggles, bonds, responsibilities, terrors : in a word, “ life

You must die before me and get my rooms ready for me in heaven, and tell the cook about my vegetarianism.

Between these no gulf is fixed, that is a part of the triumphant emergence of this correspondence.

Consistency is the bane of little minds. Let none of the latter approach this book then, in which Bernard the Lover refutes G. B. S.

1 A Review-article on Ellen Terry and Bernard Shaw ; A Correspondence.2 Tertium Organum.


the sedulous ape of his personal disillusionment-experiences, from boyhood onward, not once and again, but again and again, etc.

“ How are the lowly risen ”—we exclaim, on reading the innumerable refutations, self-enunciated, of this dramatic scorner of sentiment.

Ellen Terry is the most beautiful name in the world : it rings like a chime through the last quarter of the nineteenth century. It has a lovely rhythm in it.

Is not that a voice which breathes of Barrie, yet is the hand that wrote the same that signs its name immediately after:

I am, and always have been and ever shall be* by pre-eminent brevity and common sense, simply Shaw.

And when ShAw is at his simplest, throughout these letters, then he is most inspired, and does not directly give the lie to other selves of his which, by the grace or command of Anteros, do not intrude upon this hallowed ground. The truth is that in these letters the bush burns yet is not consumed, because it is the inconsumable that same bush enshrines. But if individual psychological leads and clues to fixations and conflict-complexes, some of which we dare swear, still remain unremoved and unresolved, in G. B. S., though “ Bernie ” doubtless used some for fuel, what about such artless self-revelations a s :

My love, my friendship are worth nothing. Nothing for nothing. I must be used, built into the solid fabric of your life as far as there is any usable brick in me, and thrown aside when I am used up. It is only when I am being used that I can feel my own existence, enjoy my own life. All my love affairs end tragically because the women cant use me. They lie low and let me imagine things about them ; but in the end a frightful unhappiness, an unspeakable weariness comes ; and the Wandering Jew must go in search of someone who can use him to the utmost of his capacity. Every* hing real in life is based on need.

fWriting of his childhood—

Though I was not ill-treated, my parents being quite incapable of any sort of inhumanity, the fact that nobody cared for me particularly gave me a frightful self- sufficiency, or rather, of starving on imaginary feasts, that may have delayed my development a good deal, and leaves me to this hour a treacherous brute in matters of pure affection

The truth is, the loving friendship and friendship-love of these two is worth perchance as much as (dare we write—more than ? ) the dramatic contributions of both: one “ our most eminent playwright,” the other—incomparable is the only word, and that futile enough, to those to whom seeing was loving. For Ellen Terry was pre-eminently not one who must “ just be known ere she would e’er be worthy of your love ”. Some take hearts by storm, others by brains.

Here are two who took the respective kingdoms of their arts by violence, and by enchantment respectively.

This is not a book for the pompous or the sterile-minded, any more than for those who know not how to season love with laughter and condiments and spices of wit and humour.

1932 LOVE THAT LIVES 103

But it is an Olympian book—one to go to for rare enjoyment of quality—quality in life, love, work and a glorious sanity concerning human relationships, mingled with occasional very human “ prickings,” even cruel thrusts. But then life is like that—and if love is not too—so much the worse for love experiences, and by so much will they fall short of the real thing—passion, that is neither decadent lust, nor sloppy invertebrate sentimentality.

These two are true lovers. They belong to the kingdom of love. It matters not one jot, how many husbands, wives, adorers, hangers- on, parasites of the love-tree, either of them had, nor that one is dead and the other living. She being dead yet liveth. He will live in these pages perchance, more as a lover than as a writer of romance, one of his poses, which in reality comes from conjuring sentimentality with romance, the colour of life. Here is true pure colour and good drawing.

Here imagination’s journeys enabled two to meet continuously, until, perhaps, Those who brought them together, for the purpose of these letters, a continual delectation for any lover, saw fit to part them, for what cause or reason, the Gods alone know. They won’t tell, and why should we produce arbitrary anti-climax in the world of our own delectation by an attitude of . . . ?

Rather, let those of Theosophical persuasion who follow Beauty thank and bless the Gods for this book, which may even (to borrow G.B.S.’s words] bring tears to the eyes, not because of any tears imaginary or realistic, of the writers of the letters, but because the thing is done beautifully.

* * * *

The Vancouver Sun, November 11, 1931, writes :

Whether the struggles of Mrs. Annie Besant against serious illness in far-off Madras result in a few more years of life or in her death, the world can look to her memory as a fine symbol of accomplishment by a woman in a world built for men.

Far away back in the years when women were struggling for the franchise and for a recognition of their equality with men, Annie Besant was forging her way by sheer intellectual ability and spiritual understanding to a high place in a religious society noted for the keen mentality of its members. —

The principles of theosophy may be right or they may be wrong. But theosophists are neither fools nor charlatans. And it is no slight honor for a woman in her eighty-fifth year to find herself at the head of an order famed for its intellectuality.

Mrs. Besant’s position was gained without the help of organizations or of propaganda. She is eminent in her own right.

Her full and useful life is a compliment to all womanhood, an ornament and an inspiration to the sex to which she belongs.

THE THEOSOPHICAL FIELDDr. A. Kamensky writes from Switzerland:

“ Geneva is full of activity at present. The Conference for Disarmament meets every day ; there are many schemes and points of view, but all are unanimous in saying that a new war would be catastrophic, and that the peace problem must be solved. One plan is the formation of a kind of international police for the security of the nations who wish to disarm; often, too, the question of moral disarmament is discussed as an essential condition.

Very impressive was the meeting at which women, delegated by many Peace Associations, representing Christian Churches, working-classes, students, the Society for Man’s Rights, etc., asked the Assembly to vote for disarmament.

A public meeting was held at the Theosophical Centre; Dr. Kamensky lectured on the disarmament problem in the light of Theosophy. There was a large audience who, after the lecture, took part in a meditation on peace.

The Swiss Section meets weekly for a collective meditation on peace, and the World-Peace Union continues its group-meditation. The Christian Churches join every morning in the American church in a prayer for peace, and there are special services and prayers for the same object in the cathedral St. Pierre at Geneva. The idea that the atmosphere of the city must be influenced has now become far-spread.”

* * * *

APPEAL FOR BOOKSThe Russian Federation within the Finnish Section of the Theo

sophical Society is composed of refugees full of enthusiasm for Theosophy, but not endowed with much of this world’s goods. They have made a special appeal to the Executive Committee for help in connection with the supply of books. They ask especially for The Theosophist, The Golden Book of the Theosophical Society. The Laws of Manu, The Science of Peace, and Krishna, by Babu Bhagavan Das,

1932 THE THEOSOPHICAL FIELD 105

Esoteric Writings, Hints on the Study of Bhagavad-GltH, by T. Subba Row. Old Diary Leaves, by Colonel Olcott, The Secret Do'-trine, by H. P. B , The Scien-e of the Sacraments, The Astral Plane, Glimpses of Masonic History, by Bishop Leadbeater.

The Executive Committee cannot undertake to buy these for them, but is providing The Theosophist regularly, and it desires to give publicity to this matter so that any readers of The Theosophist who feel inclined to do so may fill the need of our Russian brethren in Finland. Gifts should be sent direct to Mr. Nickolas Efimof, Kellomaki, Finland.

Ernest W ood,

Secretary Executive Committee, T.S.

QUICK KARMA!

You know, a lot of folks believe sea-gulls are the souls of fishermen and sailors who have been lost at sea! Tell you a queer one about the sea-gull, mister. Down on the Eastern Maine coast, where I come from, a fisherman-farmer had a big patch of fine blueberries. Gulls are mighty fond of blueberries, and they used to make this feller mighty mad with their raids.

There’s a law against shootin* the gulls, you know, so he went and set a snare on the quiet. Fin'lly he managed to catch a lone bird, a big gray one. What do you think that feller did? 'Twas a cruel act, let me tell you. Pulled the feathers out of the poor thing until it was naked as a picked chicken! Then he turned it loose.

Well, mister, the gull waddled off down to the shore squawkin’ and squawkin’ in its sufferin’. Prob'ly died before a great while— which would have been a mercy, of course. Do you know. I’ve sort of always felt that a feller’ll get about what’s cornin’ to him in this world accordin’ to the way he behaves. Now, you may not believe this, but it’s gospel.

Seems that fisherman-farmer had a head of thick brown hair. Two days after he had plucked the gull it commenced to come out by the handful! In a week’s time he didn’t have no more hair than a chiny egg! How do you account for that ? Sort of looks as if it ain't safe to injure a sea-gull, I’d say.

14

REVIEWSPeoples of Antiquity, by Caesar de Vesme. Translated by Fred

Rothwell. (Rider & Co., London.)This book is the second volume of a History of Experimental

Spiritualism but the treatment of the subject is complete in itself and it can be read without reference to the first volume.

What constitutes the chief interest of this work is the examination and discussion of the facts of experimental spiritualism considered in the light of modern science and more especially in that of “ paranormal ” psychology. Its range includes the whole domain of psychological, physiological and physical phenomena through which the peoples of antiquity, especially the Hebrews, Greeks and Romans sought for proofs of the existence of a world beyond the material one, or by which they sought to raise the veil which hides the future.

In the section dealing with the Hebrews the chief points of interest are the discussion of the hostility of the doctors of the Law to the belief in the survival of the soul; a study of the prophets, from the standpoint of modern psychology; and an examination of the systems of divination in use amongst the Hebrews ; it is noted that Moses did not forbid divination but sought only to regulate it.

Under the section entitled “ Greeks and Romans ’’ are included an inquiry into the secrets of the mysteries, and a discussion of the official divinations of the Romans. A considerable portion of this section is devoted to a study of the Oracles, and of miraculous cures in sanctuaries ; all are examined in great detail and by the aid of the information supplied by modern science.

The reason put forward for the prohibition of experimentation in spiritualism by orthodox churches is novel and convincing, and one of the most arresting statements in the book is, th a t:

Scientific people admit or reject facts by the same psychological processes as do followers of religions, that is, they admit or reject them according as they are included or remain outside the compass of their beliefs.

1932 REVIEWS 107

The examination of Dr. L^hut's pathological study of Socrates is by no means the least interesting chapter in a book written from an entirely modern view-point.

There are some errors in the table of contents, which should be corrected.

I. M. P.

Fate, Free-Will, and Providence, by Leonard Bosman. (The Dharma Press, London.)

The process of harmonizing the respective operations of Fate, Free- Will and Providence has taxed human minds from the early beginnings of philosophy; the present book successfully attempts to present their correlation in a rational manner. The writer discusses the place of astrology in helping man to understand the limitations of destiny which his past lays down for him in the present: this destiny is being overcome more and more by the freedom of Will which is the divine heritage of the Ego who can master its limitations by determining how he can react to them. When the Ego becomes one with the Monad, perfect service is perfect freedom, and there is oneness with the Divine W ill; then the “ Entanglement of Fate“ disappears.

As Madame Blavatsky says in Isis Unveiled, astrology is a Science as infallible as astronomy but it needs equally infallible interpreters ; that infallibility to a large extent lies in appraising aright the inner growth of the ego. The book is full of valuable thoughts and suggestions on what the author terms the triple factors in man’s growth e.g.:

Man, as a bodily being, is bound by Necessity and subject to Fate. As an Ego, he has “ Free-Will ” within the limits of that Fate. As himself, the Monad, one with that Life, which men term God, he is free on his own plane.

A. R. A.

The Crux of the Indian Problem, by R. P. Paranjpye, M.A., D.Sc. W atts & Co., London.)

This booklet has been issued on behalf of the Rationalistic Press Association and depicts the evil effects of want of reasoned and scientific thought in the various divisions of the Indian, chiefly Hindu, life. With the main conclusions of the book no fault can be found, though it must be stated that the attitude taken is that of a materialist of some 60 years ago, who in his enthusiasm fot his views, sees no good at all in the other side. The author would


like to wage war against the whole system of popular religion and caste. According to him baptism and communion are mere meaningless mummeries. These are the views of one who can have made no effort to understand or investigate the evidence on the other side. Yet it is true that in the name of religion many more cruelties and evils have been practised than for any other cause, and that the introduction of reasoned thought in the various fields of man’s activities will be all to the good. The real remedy however lies in the spread of education.

P. B. N.

The Dragon of Revelation, by Frederic Carter. (Desmond Harmsworth, Ltd., London.)

This is a sort of companion,' or complementary volume to D. H. Lawrence’s Apocalypse, the inspiration for which came largely, it seems, from Mr. Carter, who had interested his friend in his own line of research. The object is to prove the Book of Revelation truly a treasure-house of ancient wisdom, astrology, alchemy and mystic symbology. It is not easy reading, but repays some intensive study. Perhaps the most interesting section is that devoted to the much discussed number of the Beast, 666. Very forcibly and convincingly does Mr. Carter argue this to be derived from an astrological magic sigil of the Sun, in which the numbers 1 to 36 were arranged in a six-sided square, so that all verticals and horizontals, as well as the two diagonals, amount by addition to 111 (6664-6). This is quite a fascinating puzzle to work out, and not so baffling as it at first appears. 666 also is the sum of the numbers from 1 to 36, and is half the product of 36 and 37, and Mr. Carter argues that this product was used by the Chaldeans to express the sun’s annual revolution, namely 365 days, or between 36 and 37 decans.

A most interesting chapter is the last, on Spirit and Soul, which the writer calls the “ I ” and the “ Me ’’ in each of us, but it is impossible to do it justice by any short quotation. It should be read and pondered.

H. V.

The Cost of English Morals, by Janet Chance. (Noel Douglas, London.)

Judgment on Birth-Control, by R. de Guchteneere, M.D. translated from the French. (Sheed & Ward, London.)

1932 REVIEWS 109

These two books stand at the opposite poles of the opinions held on the question of the morality or non-morality of the practice of birth-control. Mrs. Chance’s book is chiefly concerned with a criticism of the point of view of those who are against birth-control, while the second writer carefully goes into the arguments against birth-control, holding that the Roman Catholic point of view is the right one. To be able to judge of the different views held on the medical side of the question the critic would have to be a Solomon well-trained in medicine, for even able medical men hold opposite views.

Sir Thomas Horder, M.D. writes an introduction to The Cost of English Morals and one can but agree with him when he w rites:

There are in these pages courage, strength, intelligence and great human sympathy : a combination that cannot fail of its purpose.

Books on this subject may be, to many, unpleasant or uninteresting, but does it not behove us as citizens of the world to form an opinion on a question which affects the whole of humanity ? It certainly would seem that eventually the judgment of what is, and what is not moral belongs to each individually, yet surely many a time, for many an one, the best plan would be to conform to a certain standard of morality, if not for himself then for the sake of the community.

Laws are necessary for the many, although there may be some few for whom laws from without are no longer necessary. May we not suggest to writers on birth-control the view that freedom in these matters should come, not from outside authority, but from within ourselves, because we have learned self-control and have become balanced ?

J. V. I.

Tales of the Cochiti Indians. (Smithsonian Institution, Washington.)

Bulletin 98 of the Bureau of American Ethnology is a voluminous collection of primitive American Indian folklore, comprising the weirdest compendium of classical mythology relics, interwoven with the crudest animistic derivations. To anyone familiar with “ native ’’ tradition, and methods of reiterated recital, these faithfully recorded religious and tribal origins are obviously authentic. Tales of the Cochiti Indians contains valuable evidences of ethnological interest.

H. F.


Something Beyond—A Life Story, by A. F. Webling. (Cambridge University Press.)

Sincerity is the distinguishing mark of this book.

It is not the story of a mystical quest but the record of the religious progress of a lover of nature, faced with the problems presented by Christian doctrines in the light of modern science and historical research, during the last fifty years.

The main interest of the story lies in the fact that it is so truly representative of the experience of a large number of the author's contemporaries.

Brought up under Nonconformist influences, but not impressed by either the beliefs or practices of Nonconformity the writer was led to accept Anglo-Catholicism “ through the emotions of the heart rather than by a national compulsion ".

Some chance reading introduced him to the attitude of the scientist. This led him to embark upon a prolonged and earnest study of modern Biblical Criticism which produced in his mind “ a paralysis of uncertainty and a painful bewilderment,” from which he was rescued by the proofs of the survival of the soul, established through psychic research.

Not merely as a background for his spiritual life, but purely as a lover of nature, the author has introduced into the story many vivid and delightful descriptions of English scenery. The story closes on a note of joy, that the writer’s sense of wonder and delight in Nature has not been “ dimmed by the passing years," but rather is becoming deeper as all he sees is linked to increasing knowledge and wider experience.

I. M. P.

The Wheel of L ife^A study in Palingenesis in its relation to ■Christian Truth, by the Rev. A. Henderson. (Rider & Co., London.)

This scholarly little book opens with the statement of the case in favour of palingenesis as declared by Hume to be “ the only doctrine of immortality worthy attention by a philosopher ”.

In support of the theory the author has collected a large number of quotations from the works of the philosophers of all ages, and he points out that the objections to the theory are based upon a misunderstanding of it.

1932 REVIEWS 111

It is shown that the doctrine is not inconsistent with the recorded teachings of Christ, and that it has been held by some of the early Fathers of the Church and also by many learned and devout Christians throughout the whole Christian era.

The author thinks that mediaeval scholasticism founded more- upon Aristotelian than on Platonic philosophy was probably the principal reason why the doctrine fell out of Christian teaching, and. hopes that with the resurrection of Platonic philospphy it may be restored. He acknowledges that there is no scientific proof of the doctrine, but that being guided by the wisdom of the ages we are entitled to draw conclusions, and moreover, it is a “ gospel of hope ” which seems of all others to be the most probable.

I. M. P.

The IForJs of Jesus, by Robert F. Hall. (The C. W. Daniel Company, London.)

Mr. Hall, who proclaims himself an admiring disciple of the Rev. Holden Edward Sampson, in the book under review gives a mystical interpretation of the “ Words of Je su s’* declaring them to be different from the “ Speech ” which conveys them.

His Word is Spiritual and dynamic, requiring a corresponding spiritual faculty in those who “ hearing ” understand His “ Speech This Spiritual faculty is re generated by Christ Jesus in those who unequivocally believe on Him.

The book is specially addressed to the followers of the Lord Jesus on His Mystic Way, and the author invites any who “ respond to the call," presumably on the lines of the interpretation given in this book, to join the “ little flock This interpretation runs parallel in many respects to that which is commonly held by Theo- sophists, who would also find in the Appendix some interesting pages on “ Reincarnation," “ The Virgin B irth’’ and other familiar topics of discussion. Mr. Hall shows confidence in the powers of concentration of his readers since the main part of his book con. sists of 247 pages without any division into chapters.

E. M. W.

W AN TED

To complete set of Convention Lectures in the Library of The Theosophist Office, one copy of Laws of the Higher Life (Convention- Lectures, 1902).


Magazines Received :

World Theosophy v ...News and Notes ... ...Bulletin TheosophiqueLa Revue TheosophiqueTheosophy in South AfricaThe Theosophical MessengerToronto Theosophical NewsThe Canadian TheosophistTeosofisk TidskriftTheosofie in Nederlandsch-Indie...De Theosofische BewegingFersatoean HidoepThe Theosophical PathTeosofiBoletin de la Estrela (Mexico) Boletin Oficial (Argentina)Advance Australia News Service .. The Calcutta Review ...The American Co-Mason The BeaconThe Bharata Dharma ...The Buddhist De Pionier ...LuzProteusRoerich Museum Bulletin The Indian Review India and the World The Modern Review The Occult Review Review of Reviews The Temple Artisan Vaccination Enquirer The Msha-BodhiMadras Christian College Magazine Wonderlands and New Light

February.February.February.February.January.February.January, February. January, February. January.February.February.February.February.No. 1,2.Oct.-Dec.. 1931.December.February.March.January.February.February.March.February.No. 3.January.January.March.February. February, March. January* February. January, February. Nov.-Dec., 1931. February.March.March.January.

Books and Pamphlets Received :

The Crux of the Indian Problem, by R. P. Paranjpye, C. A. Watts, London.Tales of the Cochiti Indians, by Ruth Benedict, U. S. Government Printing Office. The Orient, Ed. H. D. Sethna, Orient Post Box, Bombay.Light on the Anand Yog, by Murari Lal. Malhotra Printing Press, Lahore. Drinking Exp'sed, (Tamil Booklets) Medan.The Words of Jesus, by Robert F. Hall, C. W. Daniel, London.Fate, Freewill and Providence, L. Bosman, Dharma Press.

SUPPLEM ENT TO

THE THEOSOPHISTTHE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

F inancial Statement

The following receipts, for dues, from J Oth December, 1931 to 10th March, 1932, are acknowledged with thanks:

Annual Dues and Admission FeesRs. A. p.

T.S. in Ceylon, 10% dues per 1931 ... ... 20 0 0Mr. J. Arnold, Shanghai, dues per 1932, £1 ... 13 4 0Miroku Lodge, Tokyo, dues of 9 members per 1932 ... 28 8 0Shanghai Lodge, Diploma Fees and dues of 2 new

members ... ... ... ... 13 3 1Miroku Lodge, Tokyo, dues of a new member ... 8 6 0T.S. in England, 10% dues per November, 1931, £11-7-2 149 6 0

„ „ Greece „ „ „ 1931, £1-17-0 ... 24 4 8Hongkong Lodge, dues of 22 members ... ... 73 0 4Mr. Parkinson, Entrance Fees, through the Hongkong

Lodge, 3s. ... ... ... ... 3 5 0Mrs. M. E. Hughes, Kelantan, dues per 1932, £1 ... 13 4 0T.S. in Austria, Balance 10% dues per 1931, £1-15-0 ... 19 8 0

,, „ England, 10% dues per December, 1931, £7-4-6 ... 94 13 7Shanghai Lodge, dues per 1931 and 1932 of Mr. and

Mrs. J. D. Mooney, £1 ... ... ... 13 3 1Mrs. S. Townsend Deacon, Toronto, dues per 1932, £1 13 2 0Mr. W. H. Barzey, Free Town, dues per 1932, £1 ... 13 2 0Mr. J. Irving Davis, Philadelphia, dues per 1931 and

1932, £1-14-0 ... ... ... ... 22 5 0T.S. in Norway, 10% dues per 1931 ... ... 37 3 2Federation of T.S. Lodges in Egypt, dues per 1931, £2-11-5 33 11 8

To be carried ... 593 9 7

15

11 SUPPLEMENT TO THE THEOSOPHIST

Donations

Carried forwardGroup of T.S. Workers in Ojai, through Mr. A.

Knudsen, $ 8‘45 ...Mr. R. M. Alpaiwalla, Bombay ...H. G. Lakhia, Kalyan, for “ Adyar Day "Poona T.S. Lodges, " Adyar Day * Collections

Adyar10th March, 1932

APRIL

Rs. A. p.. 593 9 7

30 5 650 0 05 0 0

16 9 0

695 8 1

Schwarz,Treasurer , T.S.

to 10th March

Rs. A. p.20 0 024 0 85 0 0

42 0 013 13 Q

15 0 05 0 0

4 0 0

128 13 11

OLCOTT PANCHAMA FREE SCHOOLS

Financial Statement

The following receipts, from 10th December, 19 <1 t 1932, are acknowledged with thanks:

Donations

Miss E. Knudsen, Adyar, for Food Fund Beauseant Lodge, London, £1-16-7 New T. S. member, through Mr. C. JinarajadSsa Mr. C. N. Subramania Aiyer, for wages of a weaving!

instructor for six months /Mr. Frank L. J. Leslie, Harrogate, £1-1-0 ...G. N. Mullick, Karachi Mrs. E. M. Whyte, AdyarPielty Bureau, Karachi, through Mr. D. P. Kotwall,

Adyar Day Gift

Adyar10th March, 1932

A. Schwarz,Hon. Secretary S> Treasurer, O.P.F.S

1932 SUPPLEMENT TO THE THEOSOPHIST i i i

NEW LODGES

Location Name of Lodge Date of Issue of Charter

Manila, Philippine Islands. ... Lotus Lodge, T.S. 30-8-1931Saint Quentin (Aisne). ... Hermes Lodge, T.S. 10-12-1931

LODGES DISSOLVED

Location Name of Lodge Date of Return of Charter

Atlantic City ... Atlantic City Lodge, T.S. August, 1931Brentwood ... Brentwood „ 99 99

Canton ... Canton ,, », J , 99

Davenport ... Davenport „ 99 J» 99

Finlandia ... Finlandia „ 99 99 99

Galveston ... Galveston „ 99 99 99

Pacific Grove ... Pacific Grove „ 99 99 J»

Peyton ... Peyton ,, 9 9 99 »»

Los Angeles ... Quetzalcotl „ 99 If 99

Chicago ... Rainbow „ 99 99

Springfield ... Service ,, J» 99 99

Savannah ... Savannah „ 99 99 99

Baton Rouge ... Truthseekers ., 99 99 99

Vallejo ... Vallejo „ 99 99 99

Watsonville ... Watsonville ,, 99 99 99

Texas ... Wichita ,, 99 99 •»

Ohio ... Youngstown „ 99 »> 9 9

Adyar Ernest W ood,10th March, 1932 Recording Secretary, T.S.

iv supplement to the theosophist april

THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

The Theosophical Society was formed at New York, Novembei 17, 1875, and incorporated at Madras, April 3, 1905. It is an absolutely un sectarian body of seekers after Truth, striving to serve humanity on spiritual lines, and therefore endeavouring to check materialism and revive religious tendency. Its three declared objects a re :

F irst.—To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour.

Second.—To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy and science.

Third.—To investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man.

The Theosophical Society is composed of students, belonging to any religion in the world or to none, who are united by their approval of the above objects, by their wish to remove religious antagonisms and to draw together men of good-will whatsoever their religious opinions, and by their desire to study religious truths and to share the results of their studies with others. Their bond of union is not the profession of a common belief, but a common search and aspiration for Truth. They hold that Truth should be sought by study, by reflection, by purity of life, by devotion to high ideals, and they regard Truth as a prize to be striven for, not as a dogma to be imposed by authority. They consider that belief should be the result of individual study or intuition, and not its antecedent, and should rest on knowledge, not on assertion. They extend tolerance to all, even to the intolerant, not as a privilege they bestow, but as a duty they perform, and they seek to remove ignorance, not to punish it. They see every religion as an expression of the Divine Wisdom and prefer its study to its condemnation, and its practice to proselytism. Peace is their watchword, as Truth is their aim.

Theosophy is the body of truths which forms the basis of all religions, and which cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of any. It offers a philosophy which renders life intelligible, and which

1932 SUPPLEMENT TO THE THEOSOPHIST V

demonstrates the justice and the love which guide its evolution. It puts death in its rightful place, as a recurring incident in an endless life, opening the gateway to a fuller and more radiant existence. It restores to the world the Science of the Spirit, teaching man to know the Spirit as himself, and the mind and body as his servants. It illuminates the Scriptures and doctrines of religions by unveiling their hidden meanings, and thus justifying them at the bar of intelligence, as they are ever justified in the eyes of intuition.

Members of the Theosophical Society study these truths, and Theosophists endeavour to live them. Every one willing to study, to be tolerant, to aim high, and to work perseveringly, is welcomed as a member, and it rests with the member to become a true Thecsophist.

FREEDOM OF THOUGHT

As the Theosophical Society has spread far and wide over the civilized world, and as members of all religions have become members of it without surrendering the special dogmas, teachings and beliefs of their respective faiths, it is thought desirable to emphasize the fact that there is no doctrine, no opinion, by whomsoever taught or held, that is in any way binding on any member of the Society, none which any member is not free to accept or reject. Approval of its three objects is the sole condition of membership. No teacher nor writer, from H. P. Blavatsky downwards, has any authority to impose his teachings or opinions on members. Every member has an equal right to attach himself to any teacher or to any school of thought which he may choose, but has no right to force his choice on any other. Neither a candidate for any office, nor any voter, can be rendered ineligible to stand or to vote, because of any opinion he may hold, or because of membership in any school of thought to which he may belong. Opinions or beliefs neither bestow privileges nor inflict penalties. The Members of the General Council earnestly request every member of the T.S. to maintain, defend and act upon these fundamental principles of the Society, and also fearlessly to exercise his own right of liberty of thought and of expression thereof, within the limits of courtesy and consideration for others.

vi SUPPLEMENT TO THE THEOSOPHIST APRIL

THE THEOSOPHIST

The Theosophical Society, as such, is not responsible for any opinion or declaration in this Journal, by whomsoever expressed, unless contained in an official document.

Editorial communications should be addressed to the Editor, The THEOSOPHIST, Adyar, Madras, India. Rejected MSS. are not returned, unless an envelope large enough to contain the MS., and fully directed, with international postal coupon or coupons, covering return postage, are enclosed. No anonymous documents will be accepted for insertion. W riters of published articles are alone responsible for opinions therein expressed. Permission is given to translate or copy single articles into other periodicals, upon the sole condition of crediting them to The Theosophist ; permission for the reprint of a series of articles is not granted.

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A NEW MAGAZINE

INDIAN ART AND LETTERSThis is issued by the INDIA SOCIETY, and is the only Publication

in England devoted to the study of the Arts and Letters of India, the Middle and Far East generally ; it includes Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and Literature.

Among the contents are :(a) The Transactions of the India Society.

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(d) The latest information concerning archaeological discoveries in Java, Indo-China and Siam, by arrangement with the Directors of the Services in those countries.

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(P) A survey of the literature of the Indian Vernaculars.

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The following have already contributed to “ Indian Art and Letters ” :

Dr. Charles Otto Blaoden. Mr . Lionel Heath.Mr . Percy Brown. Prof. A. F oucher. 0 . C. Gangoly.

Miss Suzanne Karpeles Mr. H. V. Lanchester. Prof. Sylvain Lev i.

Mr . Ajit Ghose.M. Ren£ Grousset. M. J oseph Hackin. Sir Wolseley Haig. Mr . E. B. Havell.

Prof. Paul Pelliot Mr. Stanley Rice.Dr . H irananda Sastri. Mr. J. V. S. Wilkinson. Sir J ohn Woodroffe.

T R I V E N IJournal of Indian Renaissance

Editor : K. RAMAKOTISWARA RAO. B.A., B.L.

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Illustrated MonthlyPUBLISHED BY THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY

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For other particulars apply t o : R. C. DAS, M.A.,Manager, “ The Calcutta Review,” Senate House, Calcutta,

THREE NEW BOOKS BY ERNEST WOOD

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Sdeftji^VOQA.Series'These twelve volumes ? impart the secret

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• No printed book can ever teach the realJ Yoga, b'xt here the author' imports in a clear and popular way the practical io formation ofYoga. The author has thus done a great service.”—The Theosophist.

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OUR LATEST PUBLICATIONSMessages (1913-31) of Dr. Annie Besant, P.T.S. AS. 8 or 9d:E a RMA-LESS-NESS : Theosophical Essays; on Arf.- By C. Jina-

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